When we are young, there are certain things we take for granted. Falling asleep easily without a special routine to ensure we get proper sleep. Or jumping out of bed without needing a caffeine jolt and a series of cat or dog poses to align your day. You can see how easy it is to make up all sorts of stories about yourself.
Maybe you are married to a spouse that looks for a quick pill fix for everything, only to be left dumbfounded when their concoctions don’t work. They haven’t yet realized that self-care is a daily stack of habits, not just popping a pill and calling it a day.
For those of you that feel short-changed because you don’t have a university education, has it ever occurred to you that “real education” is not learned in a classroom but in life? Most of us know we “should” love unconditionally, accept others, and not judge. Yet we don’t apply this to ourselves. Many of us feel “worthless,” and thru this lens of not enough, we make decisions. What would it look like to accept yourself unconditionally, with your flaws and all? How would you treat yourself differently?
You can tell a lot about a person by how they stand, dress, and speak. Think about posture for a moment. We live in a text-neck world. People are slouched with rounded shoulders and with their necks stretched forward. We didn’t see this 50 years ago as we see it today. Welcome to our modern world.
We can’t leave out emotions. They filter how we receive information. If you have daily headaches from having your neck forward working on a computer, would you dedicate a few minutes a day doing self-care, as in a series of exercises to prevent this? Or is it easier to pop a pill or receive a cortisol injection? What are you choosing to practice daily?
Life choices are the result of our daily decisions. Our choices affect not only us, but those around us. Your choices affect your partner, children, grandchildren, community, and future generations. What message are you sending? This is why boundaries are essential. When people step outside of their marriage, it destroys the people involved and all that is connected to that couple.
Emotions can be big, you may not have been taught how to navigate through these layers or how to soothe yourselves without being destructive. We get hung up on words and become bitter. What we forget is bitterness is a poison. It crushes homes, marriages, relationships, health, and jobs and continues to spread. Bondage is the fear of holding what is not even ours to begin with.
What would it look like if we shifted our language? Choose “valuable” or “precious” versus “worth.” What would it look like if we forgive others because we are all doing the best we can at the end of the day? Imagine the emotional weight this would remove from you. What would it look like if we grew our awareness meter and made active choices with our decision-making within healthy boundaries? What message would you be sending yourself and others that are watching you? Rome wasn’t built in a day. All this is a practice and takes time.
What is your belief system? What platform do you make decisions from? A good leader can’t be self-serving. You may not run a business, but you run your life. You are the chief operating officer, like it or not. Where do you go for inspiration? What is your moral compass? For me, it’s God our creator.
You can see how all these tiny things add up. It may feel overwhelming at first. Awareness is the first level. The choice is the second.
Beauty is cultivated from the inside out. We all may feel dumpy in the process. Acknowledge your feelings and know it’s natural.
In Beauty and Wellness,
Holly xo