Some time ago I read about Cheryl Richardson's Self-Care Cards on someone's blog. They looked neat, and I had an Amazon gift certificate. I bought them and promptly put them up on the shelf in my office and forgot about them.
Yesterday I was pondering my blog for today (how on earth do you follow someone's sale news???) and remembered the cards. Maybe they'd hold the key to a blog topic. I read through the instructions and discovered there are numerous ways to use the cards so I just picked one method. I shuffled the deck and carefully cut it. The card on top of the cut was "Self-Love."
Oh great, I thought. How, well... selfish and self-centered. That's going to come across like smelly socks on the blog.
Then I flipped the card over and read Care for your body. Self-love and self-acceptance are the ultimate acts of self-care.
Uh, how did she know I joined Curves last week? I was flabby before but after three months of post-surgical inactivity, the flab was turning to pure blubber. How did she know I've struggled with self-acceptance all my life? How did karma know I needed this particular card at this particular time in my life?
Turns out it wasn't selfish at all. The card was about taking care of me so I can take care of the people I care for and love.
I did a little Googling about self-love and discovered a few things. You can't give something you don't have. So if you don't have love for yourself, how are you going to love others?
"Because you're worth it" isn't just a slick hair color slogan. You really ARE worth it. If you don't care about yourself, nobody else will either.
Self-love is a real eye opener. When you learn to love yourself and see yourself as the worthy person you are, then you're able to see the goodness and worth in other people.
So here's today's test. Answer these questions:
1. Who are you going to love? You!
2. Why? Because you're worth it!
3. What will the result be? You'll feel better about yourself and everyone around you. And because what you give is returned tenfold, you'll be surrounded with love from others.
Had any self-revelations lately?
12 comments:
PM, this blog came at the perfect time for me. Thanks. Not only do I need kick-started in taking care of myself, but two sentences you wrote really crystalized something I needed for this book.
Mega thanks.
This is so true, this is essential to love oneself. Especially when you have children.
Yep, you must take care of you. No one wants to be around an unhappy, whiny person. And yet, it's easy to fall into the self-doubt routine.
Self-revelations? I am hypercritical of myself. And yet, my inner heroine (for lack of a better word) is much more kickass than I thought. She always tells the hypercritical me to shut up, she's gonna keep going and she'll succeed anyway (and she does it much faster than she used to). I love that. :)
I think it's hard - especially for women - to remember that we need some time in the hectic schedule as well. We tend to put everyone above ourselves. Thanks for the reminder, PM!
Instigator
"Self-love." Sounds dirty. ::snicker::
You can't take me anywhere, can you.
This self discovery stuff always makes me uncomfortable. Affirmations, etc., make me squirm. I just try to do my best and take care of myself.
What the world needs now, is love, 'self'-love... It's the only thing that there's just too little of.
Ah, Burt Bacharach...
Great blog and interesting cards, PM. I need some of those.
Great post, PM! I've babbled about this in the blogosphere before - if you haven't discovered the show The Biggest Loser yet, give it a chance when the next round starts. (They just finished a 12 week run and will start a new one soon.) So eye-opening because it is NOT just about losing weight, it's about shedding all the habits that reflect self-criticism and doubt. The transformations are just as shocking on the inside as they are on the outside.
And thank you SO very much for planting that song in my head for the entire day.
xoxo
Rocki
Addictive, isn't it?
First off, I can't believe I missed the party. I feel terrible. Stupid week for everything to blow up. Dang it. CONGRATS - a little late.
Self love ain't easy for me. I cannot accept compliments and when given one, I usually tell the person they're crazy. Not the best response, I know.
But it's true. You have to love you if you want others to love you. I'm hoping to show my daughter confidence and belief in herself. I've always had confidence in my mind, it's the rest of the package I need to work on. *sigh*
Oh, Biggest Loser digs down deep. And those people look incredible when the show is over.
Sorry I'm late today. I've spent the morning sweating at the baseball field. Remind me never to sign up for this field trip ever again!
I love Cheryl Richardson. I get her weekly newsletter. I read her book Life Makeovers, just before I decided to pursue a writing career. She encourages people to go after their dreams and make their lives what they want to be living.
I think putting emphasis on what you want, what fills up your well, creates healthy balance. Especially when you have children. We spend so much time doing for them, putting our lives on hold to attend their events and just manage their daily care. I think it is healthy for them to see us (especially for our daughters) doing things for us. Plus it curbs a bit of their me, me, me mentality.
I want my daughter to grow up to pursue whatever she wants in life with a passion. Hopefully my example will help her to do that.
Angel
Wow, P.M.m good lesson! If we keep our eyes and ears open. . . remain "teachable". . . the universe will provide the lessons we need. I recently went through something similar-- the epiphany, that is. I have to do something about my physical health in order to do what I want with my life.
So I'm back to monitoring food intake and exercising. And boy, I can see a difference in the first week! I FEEL better. And I'm getting ready to take on some bigger writing tasks. Woo-hoo!
Ummm. . . does re-joining Weight Watchers count as self love?
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