By Debora Accola
www.deboraswellness.ch
Instagram: @deboraswellness
OUR SELF-LOVE AFFECTS EVERY AREA OF OUR LIFE
Taking time for yourself, and nourishing your body with love is not only important for yourself, but also for your environment, because it also affects your environment, whether you are in balance, whether your tank is full or whether you are rather stressed and have little energy.
Love for yourself affects every area of your life.
Be it in the area of work, friends, family, diet, and much more. How you think about yourself and how you treat yourself automatically transfers to your outside. With the time we take for ourselves, we fill our inner tank. We nourish ourselves, we nourish every single cell in our body.
Only when our tank is filled can we nourish others and be the best possible version, of ourselves, not only for ourselves, but also for those around us. This is why it is so important that we take time for ourselves and we fill our tank, creating a base that balances us, that nourishes us, and through which we keep a cool head even in stressful times.
Finding time for yourself is sometimes easier said than done. Everyday life is often packed with to-dos and appointments. Time for yourself often falls by the wayside. So that you can still schedule time for yourself in your everyday life, I would like to show you four methods or ways today that make it possible to find some time for yourself despite a long to-do list.
Planning appointments
Create a “joy-list”
New sleep time
Short breathing break
PLANNING APPOINTMENTS
It may sound a little strange when I tell you to schedule your self-care time in your appointment book. We are used to putting important appointments like doctor’s appointments or work and kids’ appointments on our agenda. Your selfcare time is one such important appointment. You would never call and cancel an hour before your dentist appointment, would you?
This is exactly how you should handle your appointments for yourself from now on. These appointments are not selfish. They help you to be centered, balanced, and powerful. When you schedule more time for yourself, you are nourishing yourself, filling your tank so you can nourish others, and you have enough energy to take care of others.
CREATE A JOY-LIST
Take a moment and write down on a piece of paper or in a notebook some things in your daily life that bring you joy. These things can be as small as you like them to be. Enclosed are a few examples from my daily life, of things that bring me joy and nourish me, my soul, and my body with all my heart.
Reading a book
Writing a diary
Drinking a hot chocolate
Meditation
Pilates or Yoga
Cooking something delicious for myself and those I like
Drinking my morning smoothie
Reading a magazine
You may realize that I have listed things that are easy to incorporate into everyday life and which are also inexpensive. That’s the point, it doesn’t have to be an expensive massage or an exclusive meal at a fancy restaurant. Look for small things from everyday life that you already do or perhaps would like to do more of because they are good for you and bring you joy.
Once you’ve made your list, now think about how you can incorporate more of these things into your daily life. If you take a quick look at my list, you may think, I don’t have time for yoga, or even I don’t have time to read a book. I also used to think I didn’t have time to read until I realized that once the kids are in bed, I always watch an hour of TV in the evening.
So I started leaving the TV off 2-3 nights a week, picking up a book instead, and reading. Since then, I can no longer count how many books I have read. I’ve also noticed that I wake up much more refreshed in the morning when I schedule an evening of reading instead of TV. Now consider how you can schedule a window of time to do these things so you can bring more of what wholeheartedly brings you joy into your daily life.
NEW SLEEPING TIME
How often do we spend our time in front of the TV late into the evening or even late at night? What if from today you go to bed half an hour earlier and get up half an hour earlier in the morning? If it is impossible to go to bed 30 minutes earlier, maybe start with 5-10 minutes? For two or better three weeks, try going to bed a little earlier in the evening and getting up a little earlier in the morning.
In those 10 minutes of getting up earlier, do exactly what you always wanted to do but couldn’t find the time to do. Find something that gives you pure joy, find something that nourishes your body holistically and gives you energy for the day. Maybe it’s 10 minutes of yoga or 10 minutes of reading a book?
An extra 10 minutes looking at the newspaper, or even 10 minutes playing with your child. There is no right or wrong here. It’s about finding something that nourishes your body, your soul, and your tank, and brings you joy. Not only will you bring more energy into your day, but you’ll also bring more joy, gratitude, love and balance.
SHORT BREATHING BREAK
Our breath controls our entire being. When we are stressed, we often breathe shallowly and quickly. When we are relaxed and feel refreshed, our breath is correspondingly calm and slow. In the future, take a conscious break 2-3 times in your daily life and connect with your breath. This break can be a few minutes long.
Breathe in and out deeply a few times and let everything around you pause for a moment. These small pauses can do so much. What’s more, you can do them at any time. Whether you’re on the train, at home, or at work. If necessary, set yourself a timer so you are always reminded of these little breaks. Simply focusing on your breath for a moment can help relax your body and bring you more into balance.
I would also like to mention that when it comes to self-care or taking time for yourself, there is no right or wrong. Each of us has different preferences, and for each of us, the topic of time for ourselves means something different. Pick what is coherent for you from the article. Spend time for yourself the way it is right for you, not the way you think it should be.
In my book NOURISH YOURSELF WITH SELF-LOVE, FOOD, AND SPIRITUALITY I write in even more detail about the topic of Self Care and also Self Love. You can find more about the book at the following link, should you like to explore the topic in more depth for yourself. https://www.balboapress.com/en-au/bookstore/bookdetails/837647-nourish-yourself-with-self-love-food-and-spirituality.
This article was first published in Issue 21
