Sunday, November 8, 2009

10 Tips for Emotional Self-Care

Over the years, I have become pretty good at taking care of myself. Here are ten tips, that I would like to share:
  1. Take care of your body. Healthy body is good for happy heart, and healthy mind. That means, exercise every day, eat healthy, get enough sleep, and refrain from intoxicants.
  2. Carve out time for yourself. No matter how busy, how needed, remember that an empty cup cannot fill other cups. That means putting yourself first, some time, every day.
  3. Cultivate good friendships. A few grood friends can make all the difference in how you experience the inevitable ups and downs of life.
  4. Practice meditation. Such a simple, and powerful way to take care of your mental health. You can start with just few minutes a day, following set of basic instructions.
  5. Befriend your thoughts. Cultivate good thoughts, and use bad ones as thread of self-inquiry into old constructs that constrict you, and need to be disassembled, skillfully.
  6. Pay attention to your dreams. Those free pearls of wisdom, delivered to you, every morning, can shed light on your inner landscape, and expand limited ego perspective.
  7. Enlist help from a guide. Spiritual teacher, psychotherapist, life coach, . . . find someone in whom you can trust, and who can help you grow, and be happy.
  8. Live each day as if it was your last. Nothing like contemplating the very real possibility of death, to gain accurate perspective on how to live.
  9. Don't take life too seriously. Cut yourself, and others some slack. Make room for your 'badness'. Relax, and laugh. Perfection is a serious sin :)
  10. Cultivate gratitude. Notice all that is given to you, even the small things, and say thanks.
  11. Engage your creativity. You need not be an artist to be creative and play. Cooking, collages, painting, dancing, quilting, woodworking, programming, gardening . . . there are so many ways! (bonus tip :))
Any other self-care tips, anyone?

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