WEEK 4: NOURISHMENT AND SELF-CARE
When you nourish yourself you radiate light into the world. And the world needs your light.
Nourishment is the opposite of neglect. Self-care is the opposite of self-harm. When we nourish and care for ourselves we are making a conscious decision to do what is best for ourselves and our health.
We can neglect ourselves in many ways – eating too much, eating too little, under-exercising, over- exercising, staying in a destructive relationship, working long hours, going to bed late, constantly criticising ourselves. When we neglect ourselves like this we are sending a message that we aren’t worth the time to look after. But when we begin to nourish ourselves we swap this message of worthlessness for one of self-love and self-respect that reassures us that we are someone of value whose wellbeing is sacred.
Nourishing ourselves is closely related to letting go. If something in our life is not nourishing our soul, we need to get rid of it in order to make room for those things that do. This might be eating natural foods, walking in nature, and spending time with loved ones. Or, it might be taking naps, watching an entire TV series on Netflix, and taking some time to enjoy our own company.
One of the things that stopped me from nourishing myself in the past was that I thought self-care was selfish. But in all honesty, my stressed-out, anxiety-riddled self was no good for anyone. Only when we are so full of nourishment will it overflow into loving others. And when we do start to nourish ourselves, the world takes on a different appearance – food becomes a way to show self- respect instead of being a source of shame and fear, exercise becomes a way to reward our body with strength instead of punishing it for eating too much, and life as a whole becomes a lot kinder and more meaningful.
Another thing that’s important to remember is that you are allowed to nourish yourself right now – not when you lose 10 pounds, or get a boyfriend or finish every task on your to-do list. This nourishment looks different for everyone but it involves:
No matter how we feel, we can control how we treat ourselves. Whether we feel happy and strong or hopeless and inadequate, the need to nourish ourselves and sow the seeds of our future wellbeing is unconditional.
When you nourish yourself you radiate light into the world. And the world needs your light.
Nourishment is the opposite of neglect. Self-care is the opposite of self-harm. When we nourish and care for ourselves we are making a conscious decision to do what is best for ourselves and our health.
We can neglect ourselves in many ways – eating too much, eating too little, under-exercising, over- exercising, staying in a destructive relationship, working long hours, going to bed late, constantly criticising ourselves. When we neglect ourselves like this we are sending a message that we aren’t worth the time to look after. But when we begin to nourish ourselves we swap this message of worthlessness for one of self-love and self-respect that reassures us that we are someone of value whose wellbeing is sacred.
Nourishing ourselves is closely related to letting go. If something in our life is not nourishing our soul, we need to get rid of it in order to make room for those things that do. This might be eating natural foods, walking in nature, and spending time with loved ones. Or, it might be taking naps, watching an entire TV series on Netflix, and taking some time to enjoy our own company.
One of the things that stopped me from nourishing myself in the past was that I thought self-care was selfish. But in all honesty, my stressed-out, anxiety-riddled self was no good for anyone. Only when we are so full of nourishment will it overflow into loving others. And when we do start to nourish ourselves, the world takes on a different appearance – food becomes a way to show self- respect instead of being a source of shame and fear, exercise becomes a way to reward our body with strength instead of punishing it for eating too much, and life as a whole becomes a lot kinder and more meaningful.
Another thing that’s important to remember is that you are allowed to nourish yourself right now – not when you lose 10 pounds, or get a boyfriend or finish every task on your to-do list. This nourishment looks different for everyone but it involves:
- Any intentional actions we take to care for our physical, mental and emotional health
- Having the self-worth and self-confidence to look after ourselves
- Being as gentle with ourselves as we are with other people
- Asking ourselves what we need and making sure we receive it
- Getting adequate nutrition, exercise and sleep
- Not depleting ourselves or sacrificing our own needs
No matter how we feel, we can control how we treat ourselves. Whether we feel happy and strong or hopeless and inadequate, the need to nourish ourselves and sow the seeds of our future wellbeing is unconditional.
Heart-Centred Exploration
Simply devote one evening this week to nourishing yourself more. Life can be pretty noisy and confusing, so it’s important we find ways to regularly include a little bit of love and care for ourselves among the busy-ness.
Start off by making a list of things that you enjoy and leave you feeling restored. Some ideas might be: getting outside in nature, spending time with people who make you laugh, taking a break from social media, decluttering, cooking a tasty meal, practising yoga, having a bath and reading a book.
Choose one or two of these things to explore this week and notice how you feel afterwards. Once you discover something that nourishes you, make sure you care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. You can do this by scheduling it into your diary and, whether it’s a yoga class, walk in nature or baking session, make sure you prioritise it as much as you would a work meeting or parents’ evening. Valuing self-care in this way allows you to restore so you can care for others with the same love and tenderness.
Simply devote one evening this week to nourishing yourself more. Life can be pretty noisy and confusing, so it’s important we find ways to regularly include a little bit of love and care for ourselves among the busy-ness.
Start off by making a list of things that you enjoy and leave you feeling restored. Some ideas might be: getting outside in nature, spending time with people who make you laugh, taking a break from social media, decluttering, cooking a tasty meal, practising yoga, having a bath and reading a book.
Choose one or two of these things to explore this week and notice how you feel afterwards. Once you discover something that nourishes you, make sure you care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. You can do this by scheduling it into your diary and, whether it’s a yoga class, walk in nature or baking session, make sure you prioritise it as much as you would a work meeting or parents’ evening. Valuing self-care in this way allows you to restore so you can care for others with the same love and tenderness.
Self-Care Meditation
Meditation is one of the best ways to nourish ourselves. This week’s meditation is a ‘Metta’ meditation – also known as a loving-kindness meditation. This meditation originally comes from Buddhist traditions and is now supported by scientific research for its benefits including: increasing self-care, self-compassion, contentment, hope, gratitude and joy, and decreasing depression, chronic pain, anger, distress and self-criticism.
Begin by finding a comfortable seated position and close your eyes. Start by developing a feeling of loving-kindness towards yourself using an aspiration for nourishment and self-care, such as: ‘May I do what is best for me and my health so my fears get weaker and my true self gets stronger.’ You can put this aspiration into your own words to make it more personal to you.
If you find it too difficult to cultivate these feelings towards yourself at first, then you can start cultivating loving-kindness towards someone you love – a child, a parent, even a pet. For example, ‘May my Dad do what is best for himself and his health so his fears get weaker and his true self gets stronger.’ Once you cultivate this feeling, see if you can awaken loving-kindness towards yourself. As you deepen this feeling, widen the circle of loving-kindness to:
Spend one to two minutes awakening loving-kindness for each of the individuals and groups.
Meditation is one of the best ways to nourish ourselves. This week’s meditation is a ‘Metta’ meditation – also known as a loving-kindness meditation. This meditation originally comes from Buddhist traditions and is now supported by scientific research for its benefits including: increasing self-care, self-compassion, contentment, hope, gratitude and joy, and decreasing depression, chronic pain, anger, distress and self-criticism.
Begin by finding a comfortable seated position and close your eyes. Start by developing a feeling of loving-kindness towards yourself using an aspiration for nourishment and self-care, such as: ‘May I do what is best for me and my health so my fears get weaker and my true self gets stronger.’ You can put this aspiration into your own words to make it more personal to you.
If you find it too difficult to cultivate these feelings towards yourself at first, then you can start cultivating loving-kindness towards someone you love – a child, a parent, even a pet. For example, ‘May my Dad do what is best for himself and his health so his fears get weaker and his true self gets stronger.’ Once you cultivate this feeling, see if you can awaken loving-kindness towards yourself. As you deepen this feeling, widen the circle of loving-kindness to:
- Someone you love
- A friend
- A stranger or someone neutral
- Someone you find difficult or offensive
- All of the above equally
- All beings
Spend one to two minutes awakening loving-kindness for each of the individuals and groups.