“You are the waterfall, not the cup.” ~ Kyle Cease
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Sometimes we practice releasing, sometimes, filling.
Sometimes we look for the balance, which can be more difficult than one might think.
Most of the time, we overcomplicate the process and forget that receiving and giving, filling and emptying can be accomplished through simple acts that are quite instinctual. Like breath.
Breathing is done without thought, a continual process of receiving, filling, letting go, emptying, then creating space for another breath. You’re not doing anything except passively receiving without guilt or any negative connotation, like a plant soaking up sunshine. Which is a huge thing. A supportive thing. Being. Breathing. Simple profundity.
Self-care is recognizing that one’s own existence is a freaking miracle. It’s being self-aware and knowing that to take is not a bad thing. That plant I mentioned takes the sunshine it is being given. On the one hand opening and actively taking (absorbing) the warmth and nourishment of the sun, on the other, being and giving beauty for any eye to see. It is a purposeful relationship.
Imagine someone handing you a flower. Unless you reach out and take it, they cannot give it, except to leave it with you in some other way. You still have to receive it, otherwise it’s an incomplete exchange. And so it is with receiving self-care. One must be in a position of receptivity. The difficulty lies in our concept of self-worth, which is grounded in the health of our first chakra, where self integrates as having value and a solid footing on earth.
There are many influences, astrological and physical, which color the way we conceptualize self-care, but that’s another post. I like to be “out of my mind” as much as possible, to drop the thought process and simply step into what my soul craves. No justifications.
Self-care can be so many simple things we often take for granted:
Toes in the ocean
Naked feet on the ground
Solitude
Silence
Naked heart on a page
Tears
Tea
Self-pleasure
Sleep
Books
Eyes to sky
Arms around a tree
Ears to your soul
Voice raised to the moon
Self-care can be opening to deep aspects of our personality and emotions. Just feeling. Observing how it feels in the body. Wrapping it all in love.
Listen to your intuition
Trust yourself
Ask deep questions
Touch your toes
Snuggle a cat
Take your dog for a drive
Lie belly down to Mother Earth
Listen to the sound of crickets
Pull an oracle card
Watch an uplifting documentary
Plant a tree
Eat something raw
Read a fairy tale
Rearrange all your crystals
Close your eyes and connect to your heartbeat
Got to bed early
Drink hot water with lemon and honey
Self-care can be exploring your gifts and sharing them with the world. Being of service.
Write a poem
Sing out loud
Ride a bicycle to the woods
Make your passion your work
Listen to the wind in the trees
Celebrate your uniqueness
Sharpen all your colored pencils
Paint a wall your favorite color
Allow time and space for healing
Visit a friend
Make dinner for people you love
Buy more colored pencils and a new pencil case
Write a book
Write a letter by hand
Go to the local hardware store because you love the smell of hardware stores
Talk to your neighbor
Relish a fantasy
Explore your kink
Expand your heart with the simple things
Clean your aura with words of gratitude and love
Look at your body and say “I appreciate you”
Kiss your beloved with intention
Smile at yourself
Sit by a river and dangle your feet in the cool water
Feed the birds
Install some fairy lights
Talk to the fairies
Write down your dreams
Learn to knit
Rent a cabin in the woods or build one
Visit a farm and work on the land
Bake a chocolate cake
Do nothing
Live without apology
Pack a picnic and invite all your friends
Self-care looks like anything that reminds you how magical you are. It is anything at all that makes you drop your shoulders and unclench your jaw.
Lie in Savasana for half an hour
Dance naked
And yes, sometimes it involves giving or someone rubbing your feet. These things are important as well. Most of the time, it is noticing that this moment is the only moment and truly living within it.
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