If you were your own partner, how do you rate yourself on kindness, caring and empathy? Do you give yourself attention?
Sometimes when we feel lost, it’s because we have lost the connection to our inner compass. In today’s society draws and pulls us out to seek and satisfy our souls by what is external. Author and life coach Cheryl Richardson states in her book, Life Make-Overs, that we spend so much time on what’s outside of ourselves that we eventually feel lost and confused.
Week Three focuses on our inner self. Richardson uses a terrific visual. Picture our lives as a giant wheel with giant spokes that reach out to each part of our lives-family, work, spouse/partner, spiritual, health, and community. At the center of this wheel is our wisdom and our experiences make up our individual selves.
It requires time to take care of ourselves, at least the same amount of time that it takes to develop and nurture a friendship or other new relationship. Here are a few of Cheryl Richardson’s suggestions:
ü Keep a journal.
ü Capture your dreams-write down any dream or fragment that you remember from your sleep.
ü Create a community of support-set up a regular time to meet with trusted friends to share thoughts about who you each are.
ü Reawaken your spiritual life-dedicate time to your spiritual life, study spiritually inspiring authors or literature: Bible, Torah, Bhagavad Gita, etc. Write letters to God in your journal, listen to your voice as it speaks for your soul.
I admit that I have done well to take time for myself ninety percent of the time. I often take Sunday afternoons and spent them at the Books-a-Million bookstore café. I sip apple cider or cocoa, read some magazines and skim through some interesting books, and take notes on what I read. I take time to exercise most days, whether it is walking outside for forty-five minutes or inside with a Walk Away the Pounds walking DVD.
Here is the weekly challenge: Schedule time for yourself over the next six months for each week and mark it in ink. Start with spending one hour and increase the time allotment each month. Work to limit interruptions. Make a promise to yourself to spend time alone.
“Your relationship to yourself is at the heart of a great career, loving relationships, true joy, and a meaningful life. It all begins with you,” wrote Cheryl Richardson.
Here are my goals:
ü Start a journal.
ü Take time to share fragments of my dreams in my journal.
ü I will take time to read or listen to spiritually inspiring literature or speakers: Marianne Williamson, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Joyce Meyer, Deepak Chopra, and others.
ü Find time once or twice a month to have coffee with friends.
How will you make time for yourself?
Resources:
Richardson, Cheryl. Life Make-overs: 52 Practical Ways to Improve Your Life. Broadway Books, New York. ©2000.
Guarino, Lois. Write Your Authentic Self. Dell Books, NY. ©1999.
Tonay, Veronic. The Creative Dreamer’s Journal and Workbook. Celestial Arts, Berkley, CA. ©1997.
A Creative Voice Beckons 