The Underrated Importance of Self-Care
Mascari, Brooke. April 10, 2024
It's more than a nourishing meal or a day at the spa…
Self-care is a way of being that enhances every aspect of your daily life—and everyone around you!
Although self-care varies from person to person, caring for oneself is essential to health.
Self-care is the deliberate act of engaging in activities that nourish you at all levels of being. But here is the main thing… Self-care needs to happen every day! Consistency is key when it comes to holistic and natural forms of health, healing, and restoring balance.
In addition, I cannot go without saying that self-care includes the conscious release of physical and emotional blocks that may be holding you back from living to your full potential. The goal is never perfection, but the self-awareness to understand when you're feeling an imbalance (and the ability to help yourself come back into balance) can change your life!
Here is a brief overview of some self-care practices that can be life-changing and help restore balance in your body and life. Remember: When you actively participate in your health, the benefits of these practices are cumulative and exponential.
1: Nutrition.
Choose foods that strengthen digestion, release toxicity, and cultivate subtle life nourishment. Remember that food is the most potent and powerful form of medicine! Listen to your body, and whenever possible, eat foods that are as local as possible and as fresh as possible. This will ensure that you are getting as much nutrition as possible out of all of your meals!
2: Movement.
An exercise routine that is tailored to your needs and meets you where you are is an essential part of daily self-care. This should be a part of your day that you look forward to and feel the immediate benefit from! There is no one-size-fits-all approach to exercise and fitness. So it is great to spend some time figuring out what your fitness goals are and what feels best to you! Keep in mind that your daily movement routine can change as you change; and season by season if need be.
3: Sleep.
Good sleep is so important and can be hard to come by because of our technology-dominated world. The blue light that emanates from our devices can be very harmful to our natural sleep patterns and circadian rhythms. But we must be sure to support the active process of sleep repair because this releases physical and emotional toxins and strengthens the immune system. Both of these are key points of self-care! Science tells us that the best sleep humans can get is from the hours of 10 pm to 6 am.
4: Meditation.
Be sure to practice mindful awareness and meditation to go beyond the activity of the thinking mind to access the inner calm and reconnect with your essential (higher) self. A simple meditation can take you from stress and feelings of overwhelm, to peace and contentment in as little as 10 minutes. Sometimes the busier you are, the more your mind, body, and spirit need meditation. If you do not have any time in your day to meditate, this means you probably need meditation the most!
5: Emotions.
Use the mind-body-spirit connection to shift from a lifestyle of fight, flight, or freeze responses to a state of restful, healing awareness. We cannot show up in an emotionally healthy way in our lives if we are perpetually in a state of stress. We must daily practice the release of stress and learn the power of being present and being mindfully at peace.
Every action matters. No action is too small to make a difference and help us care for and love ourselves better. Even simple, everyday activities like sipping warm lemon water in the morning can maximize the benefits of the other self-care practices mentioned above.
We must be diligent to not be hard on ourselves; even if we feel we are making choices that may not be the best at keeping us in balance. We offer forgiveness willingly to the people in our lives that we love, and we must also be willing to forgive ourselves if we think we have slipped up a bit. Every day is a new day to make small steps towards more healing and balance.
Remember that we must also love ourselves enough to not stay where we are, but instead make daily decisions to move closer towards alignment, balance, health, and self-love.
Self-care is the single most important thing we can start doing right now to live our highest and healthiest life. We cannot expect to show up at our best if we are not prioritizing self-care. We know that we cannot love those around us if we are not loving ourselves. Self-care and self-love go hand-in-hand. We must care for ourselves well if we also want to care for those around us well. And we must care for ourselves well if we want to show up well in our jobs and daily responsibilities.
You are the best investment you can make! Invest time, energy, and money into yourself, and the return you receive will be beyond your wildest dreams.
Love and blessings to all,
Havah Holistic Health
