Self-Care
Self-exploration, self-inventory, self-gratitude are all forms of self-care.
For additional details on this page’s content, go to author Doug Carnine’s website here.
Historically, ‘self-care’ came from the medical community, a practitioner’s way of rating how well the ill can handle the activities of daily living. In modern language use, the concept is evolving to include all habits & activities of daily living that help you achieve your preferred state of being. This includes a spectrum of both extremes ranging from completely codependent to fully independent.
If you are fully functional mentally, the process of taking inventory of who you are, what lifestyle is ideal, and how to innovate evolving your being towards what you aspire to be, is all simply layers of patterns away. Today’s trending awareness of mindful self-care habits is becoming a necessary cornerstone for everyday living.
Most of us will operate by co-dependent forms of self-care, which are often inherited from social programming. When one has a bad day, how they act out says a lot about their relationship to themselves and how functional their self-care habits are.
The difference of mindfully exploring one’s self, is the privilege of independent self-care. The better you understand what you need, the easier it is to improve your quality of life. This is the greatest gift you can give to yourself.
Forms of Self-Care
Self-exploration, self-inventory, self-gratitude, self-validation, full creative expression, and spiritual exploration are all forms of independent self-care. Being self-reliant in your self-care allows you to shift your attention away from harmful thoughts that lead to reactive actions. This saves your attention and energy for choosing constructive ways of communicating.
Popular Forms of Independent Self Care:
- Practicing Mindfulness (a state of being fully present and at peace with the present moment)
- Practicing Meditation (a quieting practice to give the mind a break)
- Cultivating Your Art Form (Making Music, Painting, Making Edible Gardens, Repurposing Materials, Creating Designs That Heal)
Optimize Biochemical Performance
Your mind consumes the most calories of any other organ in the body at 30%. Eating for clarity, energy, and feeling your best is worth it. Without nutritional support, your mental ability is reduced. Viewing what you eat as a necessary energy source for mental performance is one the highest forms of self-care. Honoring the body’s need for exercise as necessary for detoxing through sweating, has a cascading effect of benefits in improving cellular function, energy, and self-confidence.
- Respect Your Body’s Need To Exercise & Detox Through Sweating
- Anti-Inflammatory Foods Are The Highest Nutritional Support For Energy, Mental Clarity, & Cellular Function
- Pesticides Are Damaging To The Gut & Reducing Nutrient Intake Ability
- Excess Sugar & Caffeine Overtax The Adrenals
- Alcohol Ties Up The Liver From Its Normal Job Of Digesting Fats Into Energy
- Gluten & Lactose Sensitivities Are Tough To Diagnose Properly & Impair Our System
Minimize Negative Mind Wandering
The mind is capable of processing an average of 70,000 thoughts per day. Increasing the percentage of time spent in gratuitous, peaceful, laughter-inducing positivity, makes enjoyment part of your mental habits. The mind prefers thoughts that lead to connection, hence, each oxytocin kick from connecting leads to stronger positive mental habits that facilitate the connection. Being observant of harmful thoughts that lead to reactive negative responses is good towards diverting your attention and energy in constructive ways.
- Meditation Slows The Mind Down & Allows You To Recollect Yourself
- Acknowledging What You Are Feeling Releases The Energetic Buildup
- Re-Approaching Issues From A Calm, Collected Place, Gives Your Mind Room For More Solutions
- Replacing Negative With Positive Emotions Increases Your Body’s pH Level & Immune Function
- The Idea: ‘Everyone Is Doing Their Best At All Times’ Reduces Stress For Anyone Who Treats It As Truth
- Personalizing Failures Saps Energy
Habitual Self-Care Practices
A self-designed self-care protocol, means you have multiple ways of self-soothing, self-collecting, and self-validating towards empowerment. It doesn’t matter that to meditate, you merely need to stay in the bathroom and mentally meditate for 3 minutes before returning to your work. The more that you understand how your mind and body best operate, the better you can support those needs and build trust in your instincts to choose better, which means you are building self-confidence. What are you willing to do to live your best?
- Write, Draw, Collage or Build Representations Of What Inspires You
- Enjoy Diverse World Music That Is Empowering
- Choose Sacred Places To Visit For Soul Breaks
- Always Make Time To Self-Parent Your Inner Child When Triggered Until Calm Is Restored
- Keep A Self Inventory, Notice Shortcomings Without Criticism & Adapt As Epiphanies Surface
- Create Mindfulness Habits While Handling Necessary Life Chores
- Keep A Gratitude Journal, Name 3 Things Each Morning & Evening That Mean Something To You