Tag Archives: Self Care

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It isn’t trivial!
I had a grand plan, a strategy with my social media.  My grand plan consisted of providing people with tidbits of my daily life, to peak their interest in my work.  My vision was for them to ask themselves:  “how does she show up like that every day?”  And then they would go and check out my work.
That grand plan worked for years.  My followers grew and I have podcast listeners in 32 countries!  Pretty cool deal.
But then some shit happened.  We all know about it.  The country as we knew it now is being dismantled.  There is gnarly stuff going on, people are getting hurt, and it’s bad.  And all of a sudden, posting tidbits about my daily life just seems so trivial.
But I was having a conversation this morning with a friend. It was one of those deep conversations, we were talking about spiritual bypass and balance and Oneness and knowing and being the truth of who we are, and about being aware of what is going on yet resting in the joy and truth of who and what we really are.  We talked about being ministers (even though he isn’t quite yet a minister)  and giving talks and being open to downloads from spirit and about our own healing and transitions.  Our talk lasted almost an hour.
And during our conversation, I shared with him that I had made the best chili rellanos  EVER for dinner last night, and that I had one for breakfast and it was every bit as good as the one I made last night, and yet I felt guilty, or wrong about sharing it like I used to do because there was so much stuff going on in the world.  It felt trivial to share it.
And he voiced that it wasn’t trivial.  That people needed to see the good in life, they needed to see that life goes on, no matter what.  They needed to see that all my work doing spiritual practices resulted in a great balance between being aware and being able to still enjoy life and be effective in my work. 
So I’m sharing my chili relleno success with you.  I’m not sure what made this batch the best ever, but it really is.  Chili rellenos are labor intensive, and I came home on Sunday afternoon from a pretty long and eventful day.  I had given a talk at Unity at the Lake (Lake Tahoe) in the morning then had lunch with a friend (another deep discussion) then went and performed a wedding.  I got home around 4:30 and there were horses to take care of, dogs to pay attention to and kitties to feed. I did all that and still, chile rellenos were calling my name. So I got out the eggs, flour, chilis, jack cheese and a can of Old El Paso mild red enchilada sauce and went to work.  Broiled the chilis, let them cool, peeled off the skin.  Separated the eggs, beat the whites into a nice froth, beat the yolks, blended the two, added some cumin, salt and baking powder to the flour, cut up the jack cheese to fit into the peppers, grated some more (can you say thank all that is good for my Cuisinart?).  Stuffed the peppers with the cheese, dipped into the eggs and then the flour, repeat, fry, then put them into a baking dish, cover with the cheese and the enchilada sauce and bake for 45 minutes.  Best batch EVER!
So there you have it.  One of the rewards of taking the time to consistently and persistently do spiritual practices is that one can come home after a long day and still have the energy left over to make chili rellenos and have it be the best batch EVER!
You can listen to the podcast wherever you listen to other podcasts. It is called Fearlessly Feral Living. You can also listen here: https://fearlesslyferal.buzzsprout.com

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Jeff Anderson: "It's the nature of things to orbit!"
Ernest Holmes: "Every person should take time for this inner communion…"

I believe there are stages in life, and I also believe that we need to honor those stages. In doing so, we honor ourselves. I used to be a highly social person…I fed off of social situations and enjoyed them immensely. I was ok being alone, but given a choice of a night with people, no matter what we were doing, or a night at home alone, I chose to be with people. Now….given that same choice, I will usually choose to be at home alone. I still enjoy social situations, and I work with the public and love them believe it or not. But I have these urges that say, "let's just stay home." I believe this to be a stage. I don't know how long it will last, nor do I care. What I do know is that my job is to listen to my inner callings, and honor them. In doing so, I respect and honor my personal journey through life. I am not recommending that you stay home and sleep or eat junk food, especially if you are in a depression. What I am recommending is more of a personal self awareness practice so that you can know your own truth and honor it. Be kind to yourself. Above all, be kind to yourself. You are the one who gets to determine whether being kind to yourself means staying home, or going out. Know thyself is the message of today's reading. What do you do to know thyself?

Affirmation: Today I take time to know myself, and to honor and respect myself.

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Let’s talk self care shall we?  There are many different forms of self care but the one I want to discuss today is based on a quote by anonymous that I just came across:  “Be prepared for rejection if you refuse to be manipulated.”  So much packed into this one little sentence!  First of all, refusing to be manipulated implies that one knows what manipulation looks like.  I will admit, it took me years to learn the various ways that people in my life had manipulated me.  When I finally figured it out, I got sad with that new awareness.  For a while.  Then I moved out of victim mode and empowered myself by setting boundaries.  And refused to allow those people to manipulate me anymore.  And yeah, there was rejection.  But good self care begins with us knowing that we deserve good in life, we deserve to treat ourselves well and we deserve for others to treat us well.  It begins with learning to recognize manipulation.  I began to learn what manipulation looked like from my mentors.  So really the first step begins with getting good mentors.  Start there.  Find someone you admire, someone who lives the kind of life you strive for.  Find someone you can talk with.  Then ask.   It is really that simple. Just ask.  All they can do is say no, and if they do, move on.  Remember that there is a Thing Within Us that knows a bigger picture, and you can trust that with that guidance of the Spirit within you, the right person will show up.  And then begin to talk with them.  REALLY talk.  Start small, but talk.  This person won’t try and “fix” you because you don’t need fixing.   They won’t try and hold you accountable because you are a big boy or girl and perfectly capable of holding yourself accountable.   Good mentors are people who listen with a compassionate heart, and then offer their own perspective on what is going on in your life.  Such perspective comes from their own experience and wisdom.  They might guide you to a book, or a spiritual practice.  As the relationship builds, it will morph into something very valuable to the both of you.

Your affirmation: Today I do good self care, because I deserve it.

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