Good morning she whispered from a place deep inside her.
It was met with a feeling of “am I enough?”.
But the wisdom of her knowing replied…You have always been enough, let me be the gentle breeze that helps you rise to meet your day knowing the gift of you has already been given.
You are here, and I am so happy to see you.”
Self-care, a loaded word and topic. Have you been engaging in performative self-care? The surface level task driven, adding to the already overloaded list of things you are supposed to do? Now add on I need to create more time to “care for myself”. What a privilege. Self-care done from the surface, will never penetrate the depths and heart of you. It will not fill you up in the ways you need. Because self-care done from the surface cannot reach the depth of your inner knowing of what you truly need. Self-care is not one act… it is a process of remembering you matter. Remembering your inherent goodness, remembering the feeling of being whole, feeling joy, and feeling possibility. It is remembering those innocent, vulnerable, untarnished qualities of a baby. Easy to love, easy to hold. We can be too, when we remember.
We are human beings that are made of systems, and we live in systems. What we think can change the chemistry of our body, and how we act can change the chemistry of someone else’s body. Nothing is done in isolation. In showing compassion for another, we improve our own mental health. Showing compassion towards ourselves, can allow us to show up for others in our lives in a more regulated and whole way.
It can start today, in little and small ways. You can begin to say yes to what you need. For in saying yes to yourself you're saying yes to all parts of you, even the ones that are in pain, even the ones you don’t like yet. By saying yes and responding to a cue from your body you are saying, “I am listening, tell me more.” “I believe you.” This step of saying yes to self is saying, I am worth fighting for, I am worth healing for. I am worthy. Saying Yes, to yourself is the greatest act of love and respect… Saying yes is self-care. Your whole body will feel it too, first in small ways, then in larger ways, as you begin to belong to yourself again. For we must belong to ourselves first, before we can belong to another. The depth of connection and belonging to others grows, as our connection to self expands. From self-care to we-care. The way we show up for ourselves, will change the way we are able to show up for others. Let’s remember she belongs.
Woman in the Mirror:
I look in the mirror. Is that you I see?
A vague familiarity begins to form creating a sensation I have not felt before.
A warmth in my chest creating water in my eyes.
A sense of grief and love for this woman in the mirror.
Has she been there the whole time?
She looks nothing like the vision I have held in my mind,
yet familiar enough that I want to get to know her.
My search to better understand and serve you,
has catapulted me on a path to better know myself.
From we to me and back to me, a circle of integration and discovery.
~Adrianne
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