I’m embarrassed. Its been several weeks since I created something; since I painted, played with clay, journaled or drew squiggles on a blank page for self care. I haven’t taken a leisurely walk, nor sat in a coffee shop for a slow cappuccino nor paused and smelt rose petals lately. So, for someone who spends their waking hours chanting (not literally) to clients and friends ‘self care, self compassion, be kind to yourself,’ I’m quite a bit embarrassed to admit all this.  Oh and BTW my excuses for not doing my usually self care rituals are really excellent. Does this get me off the hook?

Nope! I’ve decided that I’m done with excuses and I must lead from the front. Starting now I’m scheduling in (yes we need to intentionally schedule our self care) a whole hour of self care for tomorrow as my first task.  Interestingly, my body and soul are craving creativity and art play big time and I’ve got a hankering to write a poem (that’s a new one for me, I haven’t written poetry since some  skinny boy broke my heart in high school).  So, if it’s been a while or maybe you’d like to try some self care for the first time, give yourself permission to schedule in some self care. Today!

Grab that 15 minutes you would usually spend playing on your phone… in fact turn your phone off for a whole hour. Stop completely and listen to what your body needs in this moment. Now go do that. Self care isn’t a luxury and it isn’t selfish. It’s common sense and necessary (and I’m preaching primarily to me).

Now, what is the one thing you can do right now to kick busyness, preoccupation, and the lies we make up such as ‘I can’t stop, everything will fall apart?’ in the butt? Mine is writing in my schedule for tomorrow (Thursday) 1 hour of phone-turned-off time for myself and my soul. And guilt, you’re not invited to my self care party!

What one small action are you are taking to love thyself (it always sounds better in King James version) today?