Self-Improvement | Self Care | The Self Improvement Blog

How Are You Taking Care Of Yourself?

February 13, 2012 By Admin Leave a Comment

I hear you when you tell me you are busy. I understand the long list of items on your to do list that never seem to be crossed off even in spite of your best effort. I see the look of frustration on your face and feel your overwhelmed presence when you enter the room. I know you have one last thing you have to do, but here is what I am going to ask you to do, in this present moment, if only for a minute. I am going to ask you to stop, take a deep breath, and hear what is absolutely necessary for you to do in order to live a well balanced and healthy life.

What are you doing for yourself each day? How are you taking care of your own needs so you can meet the needs of the people in your life? This question is the most important question you will ever ask yourself, because the reality of whatever you are experiencing is directly related to how little or how much time you spend taking care of your needs as they arise in each moment. We have been taught as a society, to move at speeds that defy the laws of physics, much less logic in order to accomplish super human tasks each day. We have passed this on to our children by way of over scheduling their every moment in an effort to keep up with the pace our society has created. It not only causes exhaustion, anxiety, stress, and disconnected families, but it knocks us out of balance which interferes with every aspect of our lives.

There is good news however, a silver lining to this dilemma. The message is getting out about the importance of bringing oneself into balance in order to create peace and harmony in the outside world. Nothing begins outside of ourselves; it starts from within and projects out into this big picture we call life. So how can we manage adding one more thing into our hectic schedules? How is it possible to find even one spare minute in our already jam-packed day to allow for personal time? You have no choice, but to create it. We make conscious choices in every moment when we decide to do something or not. We have believed for far too long that pleasing everyone outside of ourselves and/ or our family is more important than honoring who we are or putting the needs of our family first.

When I first started my web business over seven years ago, I remember the urge I had to answer each email as it came in which lead to the next one and then another until one day, I thought about it and became aware of my propensity to sit in front of the computer answering total stranger’s emails all day. It became clear I had two choices to make. I could choose to answer email from people I didn’t know or spend time with my family (or on myself) and save the email for another day. The choice once presented in this way became evident. If we were to sit down and look at our “to do” list and consciously decide what is an absolute necessity to be accomplished and what are the things we either over committed to or are putting undo pressure on ourselves to complete, we would find we have several minutes we could shave off and bank as time for ourselves.

Here are some thoughts and/ or questions that may assist you in uncovering the truth about whether you are taking care of your needs or the needs of everyone around you.

If someone suggested you take a nice, relaxing bath, your response would be- I don’t have time to take a bath?

If someone recommends a really good book they recently read and suggested you read it, your response would be- I don’t have time to read?

Your spouse or partner suggests a night out, just the two of you, and your response is- I am too tired to go out, can we stay home instead?

It’s a weekend evening and there is a good movie on, you would prefer to- go to bed early?

You don’t have time to call your friends

You don’t have time to get your hair done; enjoy a spa treatment; shop

You don’t care about what you look like

Not taking care of you!

Make it a priority to fit one or more of these suggestions into your daily/ weekly life. Every time you do something for yourself, you fill your cup with more to give. The more you do for you, the more you have to give and the time suddenly appears in ways you never realized was possible. “Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow.” -James Michener

Get a pedicure or a manicure

Meditate

Exercise

Yoga
Breath (yes, 10 deep breathes each hour will do wonders for every aspect of your life)

Spend time reading a book to your child

Read a book for your enjoyment

Take a bath (I cannot emphasize this one enough)

Plan a romantic meal for your significant other

Go out for dinner

Meet a friend for coffee or drinks

Watch your favorite T.V. program

Take a nap

Plant flowers

Sit outside and watch the birds or other wildlife

Go for a walk

Congratulations, you are taking care of you!

Life should never become too busy whereby you can’t take a few moments out to balance your inner self; for it is when we sit in silence we hear the answers.

Dr. Caron Goode is gifted with compassion in assisting others to effect lasting transformation through spiritual coaching, books, classes and seminars. Caron’s continuous education, experience in psychology and professional writing makes her a great resource for parents wishing to create and maintain a nurturing relationship their children.

For more information, please visit our website: http://academyforcoachingparents.com

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Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: self improvement, self care, taking care of yourself

Structures for Self-Care Success

July 17, 2011 By Admin Leave a Comment

By Linda Dessau -

So, what is a structure? A structure is something that reminds us of what we want to accomplish – something we want to do (an action), carry out (goals) or become (our life purpose, our future vision of ourselves).

We use structures in three different ways:

As Reminders: Examples include your day planner, notes to yourself on a post-it, a shopping list to carry with you to the grocery store, or leaving something by the door that you want to take out with you.

As Inspiration: Examples include inspirational quotes or pictures, placed in areas that you look at a lot. The pictures might be of something you’d like to attract into your life or may evoke a positive memory. Pictures of your family may remind of what’s truly important. Funny pictures or quotes may make you laugh and approach your day with a lighter heart. If you’re saving money for a vacation you might have a beach scene posted.

For Tracking: Examples include exercise logs, using a pedometer to track (and increase) the amount of “steps” you take in a day. One of my favourite and most useful structures is the food journal – I not only record the food I eat, but also my emotional and mental health, my physical health and exercise and my sleeping habits.

Using structures for reminders, inspiration and tracking can help you to develop healthier habits in your life. Experts agree that it takes 21 days to form a new habit.

Until something becomes a habit, it’s necessary to create a structure or routine around it.

For example, you’d like to create the new habit of drinking 8 glasses of water a day – recommended for a variety of health benefits as well as the prevention of disabling conditions. What are some structures you might use?

Reminders:

1. Carry water with you – have a travel mug, bottle or glass next to you whenever you are sitting for long periods of time (including the car).

2. Post a note where you sit most often during the day, reminding you to drink water.

Inspiration:

1. Think of what you are trying to accomplish most with your water intake – healthy skin, overall health, weight loss – and try to find a picture that embodies those benefits. Post it or carry it with you.

2. Create a list of all of the benefits and post that or carry it with you.

Tracking:

1. Pre-measured bottles – purchase several bottles of water (which you can then refill with tap or filtered water – be sure to wash them out with soapy water in between). Use these to track how much water you are drinking during the day. Pour from the bottle into a glass or drink right from the bottle. At the end of the day, aim to finish 2 litres of water.

2. Water log sheet – List every day of the week and use checkmarks to mark when you have finished a glass of water. You can look at this as you progress and notice when your water intake is increasing. You can also notice the days you’re drinking less and you can do a little detective work – maybe it’s always the days when you have night school or maybe it’s the days you do errands at lunch time – and come up with strategies for that particular situation.

Part of what I do as a self-care coach is to brainstorm with my clients about different structures that may work for them. The best thing about structures is that you get to try them out; if they don’t work there’s always something else. So if you “fail” at creating a new habit, it’s a great learning to point you in the direction of another structure that will work better for you.

Instead of blaming yourself or using it as an excuse to stray further from your goals, remind yourself of why you want to make the change in the first place and get back to the drawing board!

TIPS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE STRUCTURES

1. Brainstorm with someone else. The things we think of ourselves sometimes aren’t radical enough to jolt us into a new routine. The bigger the change you are trying to make the more noticeable the structure needs to be.

2. Try and use more than one of your senses. Find a structure you can hold in your hand or wear as clothing or accessories. Find something that captures your attention. Use a song – remember Ally McBeal and her personal “theme song”?

3. Play with different structures until you find the right one. Maybe something worked for a few days and then stopped. Think about what worked and use that to create your next effort.

4. People can be a structure. Being accountable to your coach, spouse, friend, colleague, children or other family members can be very motivating!

5. What has motivated you in the past? Don’t re-invent the wheel, use past experiences to help you now.

Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach, is the author of “The Everyday Self-Care Workbook”. To receive one of her free monthly newsletters, subscribe at http://www.genuinecoaching.com/newsletter.html

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: accountability, habit, inspiration, reminders, self care, structure, support, tracking, water

Untie The Rope

June 10, 2011 By Admin Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: I received this in my email this morning and thought it was a powerful message that needs to be shared. Think it through. Irene

By Tyler Perry -

Hey there, you good?

So, I just finished filming a really good movie called GOOD DEEDS. It’s me like you’ve never seen me before. It comes out in February, brace yourself. There were a lot of long days on this shoot, so I wanted to take a break. I decided to do some traveling and since I still have 20 more pounds to lose before I start my next movie, ALEX CROSS, I thought I would go to the Grand Canyon and do some hiking, climbing and so on. At one point in the climbing, I was over a steep drop and was tied to a safety rope, while a buddy’s safety rope was tied to me. It was my responsibility to help him up, since I was bigger and weighed more. I told him, “I’ll hold on to you to help you up but if you start to pull me over with you, I’m going to untie this rope.” We had a good laugh about it, but I was serious…

I started thinking about that moment a few days ago. How many times are we tied to a person, people or things that are pulling us down and we won’t untie the rope? For whatever reason, be it family, friends, society, or just the feeling of being obligated, trapped or that if you don’t, no one else will. I have watched so many people go over a cliff with a person that they are trying to help up, it’s sad. YOU MUST UNTIE THE ROPE!!!

This is your life and you are wasting it being tied to someone who is destroying his or her opportunities and yours. If the person that you are trying to help does not know that they are worth being saved, how do you expect them to put any value on you saving them? You’re not worth it to them. They can’t get it! SO YOU NEED TO! Listen to me, untie the rope and don’t lose yourself trying to hold on to someone who can’t survive on your level. You hear me? Maybe they have gone as high as they can go. Just because you can survive on that level doesn’t mean that everyone else can. Stop trying to help them, UNTIE THE ROPE! I know you may feel this is cruel, but what is more cruel is dying a death that’s not your own. Letting your destiny go to hell because someone else pulled you there. Are you kidding me? That isn’t God!

Here is what I have learned over the almost 20 years that I have been in this business. Let me tell you, I have seen and worked with some of the most talented people you can imagine and I used to wonder why they never got any higher than they are. You know, the kind of people who always seem to be at the door, but never can go in. It used to blow my mind until I got a revelation from God.

For many years I was the same way, I would get close and things would fall apart. I couldn’t get any traction, not in my career, not in my personal life and not in the pursuit of happiness. I just couldn’t move forward. Through much prayer and self-discovery, I found out that I used to be, notice I said “USED TO BE,” a self-saboteur. I would find a way to subconsciously destroy every good thing that was in my life and I didn’t even know I was doing it. Most self-sabotaging people don’t know that they are doing it. I don’t think there is anyone sadder than a person who blames everyone else, but themselves for their situation. The very revelation that I was causing my own problems was one of the greatest blessings God could have allowed me to see. Once I realized the behavior, I was able to change it. That is why my life is in such a great place right now. I realized that my very thoughts were keeping me from being successful at everything. “So, as a man thinketh, so is he.”

Many times a lot of us sabotage subconsciously because of what mamma or daddy said, traumatic childhoods or any number of things that happened growing up that made us feel that we shouldn’t have or that we didn’t deserve it. I’m here to tell you all, that misinformation was wrong. You do deserve it! You are worthy of it!

Why am I saying this? I’m just tired of people being upset with people who have realized their dreams. The only difference in someone who is living their dream and someone who can’t get it to come to pass is they don’t feel they deserve it. They don’t feel they are worthy of it. So many of us have dreams, dreams that the world is waiting for, talents that will help heal and change nations, but we keep destroying our own successes. I know for a fact that if I had not figured this out, you wouldn’t be reading this email right now. Nor would I be a happy soul.

The world is waiting for your gift. Give it to yourself and you will give it to them, but first you have to UNTIE THE ROPE.

Filed Under: Self Improvement Tagged With: letting go, self care

Dispelling the myth: How old is too old to wear a bikini?

June 1, 2011 By kzane Leave a Comment

By Kerri Zane-

Nothing is more annoying than virtual strangers telling me, http://kerrizane.com/ , what I can and cannot wear! A new survey published in the Daily Mail May 11 has attempted to become our moral clothing compass. 2,000 women between the ages of 18 and 65 polled by a UK dieting company Diet Chef has certainly made a name for themselves all over the world, but I don’t think they’ve made many friends with women over the age of 35. When the results of their survey were tallied it seems the appropriate age for wearing a mini skirt (35) tube top (33) and bikinis (47), we all have till 61 to keep any kind of swimsuit on, then apparently we are persona non grata at the playa!

TWENTY SOMETHING CHUB-A-LUBS

There are plenty of young women in their twenty’s who should not be seen in a tight tank top let alone a bikini or belly shirt. I mean really, you know what I’m talking about…girls with massive muffin tops spilling over their Rock and Republics sporting a pierced belly button just to accentuate the not so positive. Or those women who wear the wrong size jeans so when they alight from the dinner table, you not only see their backside tramp stamp, but you also get a not so appetizing peek at their g-string. Is that sexy? or age appropriate? I don’t think so. Not that I want to see a 50 year old woman’s g-string either. I don’t want to see anyone’s g-string!

BODY BEAUTIFUL APPROPRIATE

I’ve got to be honest, rather than an age range bikini restriction how about a BMI (body mass index) body beautiful standard of dressing. There are plenty of stunningly fit women in their 40’s and 50’s who can wear just about anything and turn heads. Dressing should be about what’s appropriate for your body not your age. If a woman has legs like Tina Turner, who by the way is 72 and still shows them off, is she to hide her glam gams because she suddenly turned 36? If a lady has worked her whole life ab crunching should she send her six pack under cover just because she celebrated her 48th birthday? It makes no sense. And boys…I’ve got news for you, if all these beauties go into hiding because of a number you will be missing out on some hot scenery simply because of a ridiculous standard.

DRESS SMART

My best advice…take a realistic look in the mirror and evaluate your look with a keen eye. If you don’t feel like you are a good judge for yourself bring a long an honest friend. Wear what you feel comfortable in. Wear what looks good on you. And for goodness sakes if you are over 50 and can sport long hair, a mini, a see through chiffon blouse and stiletto’s…Rock on sister! You are my heroine.

The picture above was taken a little over a year ago. Can you guess my age?? I’d love to hear your answers! (I’ll give you a hint, I’m over 47!) Check out more tips and tricks from Kerri at http://kerrizane.com/.

Filed Under: Self Improvement Tagged With: bikini, self care, too old

Top 10 Healthy New Years Resolutions

December 26, 2010 By Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

By Mike D. Ross -

As the end of the year approaches, many people start to think about making a New Years Resolution. Here are ten resolutions you might want to consider to help make next year a healthier one.

1. Exercise your heart four or more times per week for at least twenty minutes. Walking is a good place to start, but you can also use an exercise bike or even walk or swim in a pool if you have access to one. A strong heart is the foundation to a healthy life.

2. Work on your balance four or more days each week. Do four to six balance exercises for one minute each. Exercising your sense of balance helps keep it sharp and reduces your risk of falling.

3. Do strength training two to three times per week. You can use dumbbells, rubber bands, or weight machines. Aim for about ten exercises that use all major muscle groups, and do fifteen reps of each exercise. Strength training helps slow the decrease in muscle mass that is associated with aging.

4. Stretch daily for five to ten minutes. Do one stretch for each body part and hold each stretch for about forty-five seconds. Stretching helps you maintain good posture and joint health.

5. Have a square of dark chocolate every day. Look for at least 60% cocoa content on the label when buying chocolate. Dark chocolate is a potent source of antioxidants and also has a positive effect on your mood.

6. Once or twice a day, stop what you’re doing and breathe ten deep breaths in a row. Slowly fill your lungs up all the way and then gently exhale. Deep breathing is like pressing the “Reset” button on your stress levels.

7. Exercise your brain by learning new things on a regular basis. Take up a new hobby, check out a new book, learn a new card game, or cook new foods. New things are like food for a healthy brain.

8. Eat healthy fats every day. Try to buy some kind of nuts, particularly almonds or walnuts, every time you go to the grocery store and eat a handful every day. Avocados and olive oil are also good sources of healthy fats.

9. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Have some fruit with breakfast, cooked vegetables at lunch and dinner, and raw vegetables, fruit, or a salad for snacks. Five servings a day isn’t that hard if you plan ahead and spread them out through the day.

10. Be optimistic. Make the decision to have a positive attitude. Look for the good things in life instead of the bad, and it will seem like more good things are happening. Believe it or not, a positive attitude has been shown to benefit your physical health and even add years to your life.

You may already be doing some of these things, which is great. What else can you add? Pick three and make those your resolutions. The key to success is consistency. Day after day, week in week out. That’s when you start to see results.

Fitness expert Mike Ross specializes in helping seniors improve quality of life through healthy choices. His new book, “The Balance Manual,” shows seniors how train their balance at home to help prevent falls. Click here to visit his website.

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: diet, exercise, Health and Fitness, self improvement, self care, senior care, Top 10 Healthy New Years Resolutions

Self-Sabotage: The Opposite of Self-Care

December 1, 2010 By Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

By Linda Dessau -

Have you ever gone out of your way to NOT take care of yourself? Does it ever seem like you’re working against yourself? Do you ever ask yourself “Why did I do that??”.

My “inner saboteur” loves to tell me “leave the dishes, you can do them later.”. This is particularly harmful for me for two reasons. One is that I’m very affected by clutter in my environment. I never feel quite as motivated to take care of myself when there are dirty dishes on my counter. The second reason is that more dishes mean a longer time standing at the sink, which causes me physical discomfort.

The dictionary definition of sabotage is “an act or process tending to hamper or hurt” or “deliberate subversion”. Hmmm. Why on earth would we sabotage ourselves? That’s a complicated answer. And a simple one. We choose to.

Sometimes it’s so frightening to imagine changing, growing or making conscious choices that we deliberately hamper our own efforts. “I make choices every minute of every day”. “My life is up to me”. Those are intimidating thoughts. And doing things the way we’ve always done them feels safe and comforting.

So how do you deal with your self-sabotage? The first step is to identify how you’re sabotaging yourself. For me, realizing the effect that the dishes had on me was hugely important. Putting “do your dishes regularly so they don’t build up” into my list of daily practices has had a big impact on my self-care. It’s brought the issue into the forefront and helped me to think about it as often as I needed to.

To start, create two columns on a piece of paper. On the left, list the healthy habits that you would like to be doing. Now, think about times in your life when you may have tried to implement them. What happened? In the right column, write down next to each healthy habit the actions or thoughts that stopped you from doing it or keeping it up.

Think carefully and take responsibility where it’s due! Yes, there are other people in your life who affect how you spend your time. And, you still always had and have a choice.

Now you have a list of ways that you may be sabotaging yourself – congratulations! Please don’t judge yourself or use this as evidence to fuel your inner saboteur, whose favourite saying may be “You can’t do this”. You CAN do this! This list is your line of defense against your inner saboteur. Everything’s out in the open, just like with my dishes.

The next step is to create your own self-care plan – a list of daily practices to foil your “inner saboteur” – and develop the healthy habits that will make you feel more energized, relaxed and balanced.

In the meantime, I’ve got some dishes to do…

Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach, is the author of “The Everyday Self-Care Workbook”. To receive one of her free monthly newsletters, subscribe at http://www.genuinecoaching.com/newsletter.html

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Filed Under: Self Esteem Tagged With: choice, sabotage, self improvement, self care, Self Esteem, self help, self sabotage

6 Tips for Handling the Stress of the Holidays

November 27, 2010 By Admin Leave a Comment

By Tracie Hammelman -

In addition to the joy and fun that the holidays can bring, you and may also encounter stress, depression, or anxiety. Here are some tips to handle the sometimes hectic events of the next couple of months:

1. Be an advocate for yourself. It is not uncommon for those who tend to be overachievers to increase expectations that they have for themselves. Just because there may be more to do, does not mean that you have to be the one to do it all. Delegate those extra duties to family members or friends so that you are not overwhelmed and exhausted.

2. Be proactive. Along with festive events, comes food and drink that would throw your healthy lifestyle out the window in a heartbeat. Overcome your urges to indulge in those high calorie snacks or drinks by eating before you get hungry, drinking a large glass of water, consuming small amounts throughout your day, and taking in foods that are going to sustain you.

3. Prepare. If you will be spending time with family, friends, or other people who you have unresolved emotional issues or conflicts with, the stress of the holidays may intensify or trigger these issues. Be aware of this ahead of time, make a pact with yourself that this may happen, and devise a plan of action to take care of yourself if it does.

4. Keep a routine. Maintain your day as close to your usual schedule as possible. When you know that there will be extracurricular activities, be sure to also build in time outs or “breathing time” for yourself.

5. Maintain flexibility. Expect the unexpected. Your children and pets function the best also when they have a routine to follow. When that changes, their behavior may change also-they may become withdrawn, or they may act out. If you understand and expect this to happen, you will be much less likely to react to them in a way that you might regret later.

6. Make a plan. Not everyone looks forward to the holidays. some, people are alone, have had negative experiences, and may even become depressed or suffer from increased anxiety during this time. A way to cope is to devise a plan-know that these feelings may surface, acknowledge them, and build self soothing or other activities that provide comfort into your day.

Tracie L. Hammelman, LCSW has 20 years of experience as a psychotherapist and is known as “The Advocate for Mental Health Professionals”. She specializes in helping clinicians improve their clinical skills and how to double or triple their income online using passive residual income and continuity programs.

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Filed Under: Self Improvement Tagged With: anxiety, Depression, encounter stress, holidays, self improvement, self care, self help, stress management

Sleep: 10 Ways to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

October 27, 2010 By Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

By Linda Dessau -

Sleep – are you getting enough? For some people, enough is four to six hours. Other people just don’t feel right with less than eight hours. People need more or less sleep at different phases in their life. Women may need more or less sleep at different phases of the month.

The simplest way to tell if you’re getting enough is by noticing every morning – do you feel rested? Do you wake up without an alarm clock and feel ready to get right out of bed and start your day?

Not getting enough sleep is one of the most direct ways that we self-sabotage our success and well-being. When we are better rested we not only feel better, but are calmer, smarter, more rational, nicer to be around and we look better. Why wouldn’t we choose to have that every day??

1. Set the Stage – turn off the computer and television at least one hour before you’d like to fall asleep, and turn on some music that you find relaxing. Test what your stereo system will do when the recording is finished – does it SNAP! or does it “wrrrr” – this will make a difference as you’re drifting off. My CD player makes a very soft “wrrrr” noise (though I honestly can’t remember the last time I was still awake when the CD was over).

2. Music without words – words can provoke and direct your thoughts more than instrumental music or pure vocal sounds.

3. Music with natural “breaths” – music where the soloist takes natural pauses to breathe can help you to slow down your own breath – try flute, other wind instruments or voice (either with no words or words in a language you don’t understand).

4. A good book – For bedtime reading, try to stay away from material that gets you thinking about things you deal with during the day. Magazines or stories that distract you from your own life may help you to drift into sleep.

5. Imagery – If you find that your mind is racing when you are trying to sleep, picture a viewpoint where you’re traveling down a road. See your thoughts as signposts that you’re passing. Concentrate on letting them pass right by.

6. Progressive muscle relxation – Imagine that a ball of light is traveling along your body, beginning at the top of your head, going down to the tips of your toes, and then coming up again. As it passes your muscles, they fill with light and relax.

7. Take a nap – If your sleep has been interrupted or there’ve been unavoidable late nights, an afternoon nap can help you catch up. Experts advise that naps should be taken earlier in the afternoon, rather than later, and that we should keep them to 30 minutes or less. This will avoid disrupting your sleep at night.

8. Lavender Bath – Take a hot bath and add a couple of drops of lavender oil. Lavender has naturally occurring relaxing properties.

9. Chamomile Tea – Calms the nervous system and helps to promote restful sleep.

10. Take 500 mg Calcium with 250 mg Magnesium at bedtime – The calcium has a calming effect, and the magnesium works along with it.

The advice and information in this article is not meant to replace medical advice. If you suspect you have a serious sleeping problem such as sleep apnea, or if you experience insomnia or extreme fatigue, please consult a healthcare professional.

Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach, is the author of “The Everyday Self-Care Workbook”. To receive one of her free monthly newsletters, subscribe at http://www.genuinecoaching.com/newsletter.html

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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: good night's sleep, insomnia, sabotage, self improvement, self care, sleep, sleeping problems

Self Care – Your Health and the Holiday Season

December 10, 2008 By Guest Contributor 1 Comment

By Jaynine Howard -

Self care is defined as taking a personal day or a personal time out to recharge your batteries, rest your brain, and just be a bit lazy. It is a separate activity from going to the gym; which can put you uncompetitive mode and makes your brain think. Self care is often underrated and scorned. People try to shame you when you take time for you. However, you must take time for self care in order to perform your best and let your immune system recharge too.

Growing up my mother didn’t allow us to do very much on Sunday. It was reserved as a day of getting up early for morning mass, visiting grandparents then coming home and curling up in front of the television. Depending upon the weather it would determine what choice of channels we had. Yes, this was before cable television. PBS offered the old black and white movie classics and if the weather was near perfect we could tune in and enjoy a classic movie or an old Hop Along Cassidy episode. This was our unannounced family time. Yes, it seemed boring at times, but we sat and thumbed through catalogs and magazines, catnapped, and had conversations. We rested our bodies and brains; our immune system thanked us.

Sundays also did not allow for homework or hanging out with friends. My mother truly called it a “day of rest”. The only chore we may have been found performing was hauling in wood for the wood burning stove. We usually had yummy snacks while lounging around on a lazy Sunday afternoon. If the weather was perfect in the summer we may be found outside riding horses with those pink Hostess snowballs smuggled in the saddle bags. Those are favorite childhood treat. They bring back fond memories.

Early in my young adult life when I found I was suddenly a busy mom and United States Marine I took the advice of Mary Kay Ash and got up an hour earlier each day. This was my private time to enjoy reading, writing a letter, or just enjoying the quiet morning before everyone got up and the rush of the day started.

Years later when I found myself a single parent my quiet time was at 9pm each evening. After the children were asleep and it was 9pm it didn’t matter if the floor needed a good sweeping or a load of laundry needed folding it was now my time and those things would wait until the next day. My ritual was at 9pm to free myself and my brain of the chaos of the day. After performing my nighttime rituals I would crawl into bed with a good mindless romance novel and escape for a few hours. This private time allowed me to stay sane.

Today everyone from children to older adults is rushing around multi tasking at record speeds. People all of a sudden think there is something wrong with just staying home and curling up on the sofa with a good book or watching television. I always wondered why people subscribe to huge cable packages then are never home to watch television.

Now is the time to reclaim your quiet time. It is time to devote a regular time to you and your self care. You will find that you get more accomplished after having a day or few hours of scheduled rest. I remember reading an article from the 1940s or 1950s that told women to take a nap each afternoon and put on fresh makeup before the husband came home so that she was refreshed and able to tend to the husband; that seemed silly advice at the time I read it. But now as I work from home and often begin my day at 4am I love being able to take an afternoon power nap. It recharges my brain and I am more productive in the afternoon. You cannot sit at your desk and work for 10-12 hours without a break and be totally 100% productive. You need to rest your brain.

When my son was little we use to spend the week deciding what snacks we would make to eat while watching Sunday football games. I would usually end up falling asleep and he would wake me up to tell me the score. This became our family tradition and is what memories are made of. Get creative and solicit family members on creating a day of self care for the entire family.

At this moment the holidays are upon us and people are rushing to shop and attend various events it is the time to find your time for peace. Announce to everyone that with the economy in crisis mode it is time to stop spending recklessly and it is time to start enjoying the things you have in your home such as the television, books, board games, and each other. Spending an afternoon baking cookies or bread as Christmas gifts can be relaxing and save money too. Watching one of the many televisions you have in your home is a free activity that can replace spending big bucks at the movie theatre.

Now is the time to focus on you and your family and everyones health. Making and taking time for self care will ensure you have a rested mind, recharged immune system, and more money in your wallet.

Coach Jaynine ensures small business owners and determined individuals turn their Dreams into Reality. She facilitates personal improvement through the use of assessments, self empowerment, and client specific action steps via the telephone and internet. Her clients increase their productivity and earning power while living life on their terms. Experience what Coaching can do for you by registering for a complimentary teleclass at https://www.dreamcatcher-lifecoaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jaynine_Howard

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: health, health and the holiday season, self care

Take Care of Yourself

December 12, 2007 By ireneconlan Leave a Comment

As we get closer to Christmas, Hannukuh and the New Year, some people are going in to a fever pitch of activity. Shopping, cleaning, and baking for some as they get ready for guests and big dinners. For some it’s getting ready to travel, wondering about the weather, the road conditions, the airlines efficiency or lack of efficiency. Many are wondering how they’ll ever get it all done.

It’s a time of heightened stress and there are many articles written to help you get through the holidays as unscathed as possible. I know you’re probably in a hurry so I’ll be brief. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Emotional Health, Happiness, Humor, Irene's Articles, Self Improvement, Stress Management Tagged With: self improvement, self care

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