17 Easy Ways to Take Good Care of Yourself

Let’s just call this a list of reminders for some things you’ve been meaning to do–

Stop rushing around. When will we realize that rushing here and there is an ineffective remedy for chronic lateness? Plan ahead. Plan to arrive 15 minutes before any appointment. Promise yourself 15 minutes of relaxation in your car with your favorite music for arriving early.

Wake up before everyone else in your house. The more time you spend sitting quietly in the morning, just contemplating things, the wiser, wealthier and healthier you’ll become.

Say exactly what you mean. If you find yourself in a situation where you find yourself feeling intimidated by a certain someone, practice stating your cause or your needs out loud, while you’re alone. Just be honest, say what’s simply true for you.

Refuse to complain and choose to be grateful for what’s good in your life. Each day… ask yourself… what are the things, large and small, in my life that I am truly thankful to have in my life. Purposefully make a mental gratitudes list. Your complaints list will sneak into your mind all by itself. Be ready to wipe it out.

Take care of your health. Seriously. When was the last time you had a check-up? Do you need to schedule appointments for annual tests… mammogram, cholesterol counts, Blood pressure checks, etc.? If you answered ”uh…” to when was your last check-up?…it’s probably time.

Move your body every single chance you get. Good for your heart. Good for your joints. Good for your muscles. Good for your weight.

Beef up your collection of funny movies and your favorite “chick flicks” … watch them often. Laugh, cry or let your imagination run wild… its all good.

Still smoking… after all these years??? STOP. Find a program that works or design a plan for yourself. Whatever it takes. Do it now.

Create a secret stash of playthings for yourself. When you were a kid what did you love to do?…play jacks?… play with Playdoh… color… blow bubbles… read comic books… play with a Lionel train?… or a race car set …hook a rug or weave a potholder… paint by number… ???  Fifteen minutes of old-fashioned play sounds like fun to me!

Today, take yourself some place you want to go. Spending an afternoon browsing a used books store or hunting down a pair of red leather heels or finding a new shade of lipstick is not a waste of time… it’s up to you to find little ways to treat yourself.

Make time for your creativity to flourish. Support your creativity with your favorite music, fresh flowers, scented candles, cuddly clothes to pamper yourself, fragrant herbal teas. Nothing spark s your creative juices like indulging all your senses.

Remember that you can’t do everything alone. Enlist help where needed. A peaceful life is a balanced life that includes time for your mate, your children, your work, your passions and time for you. A lack, or overload, in any of these areas threatens your sense of well-being. Take stock, often, of how your time is spent. And I know you’ve heard it before: Say no when asked to do things that you know will derail your own agenda or your peace of mind in any way.

Give yourself a time out. Nothing heals (or staves off) a case of burn-out like taking the time to sit with yourself in solitude.

Check your self-talk. Are you building yourself up or tearing yourself down? We hear more self-talk than anyone else’s talk… so know that what we say to and about ourselves is indeed important

Cherish your friends. Reach out and touch, call or write to your best sister-friends at least once a week… the more often… the better.

Let go of the things you really don’t need, don’t use and probably don’t even know you have. Be nice… share what you have more than enough of.

Talk to God… simple. Just talk. To walk through your life without acknowledging and communicating with your Creator is to deny yourself a richer, more peace-filled life. There is a full life to be lived on the inside as well as on the outside of us… the intellectual mind is illumined greatly and fabulously by the spirit mind.

Have You Built Yourself a Cozy Little Nest in Trouble?

Think about this:  Whatever space you find yourself in that feels like Trouble to you—whether it’s a draining relationship, a state of lack, a struggle with depression, or a battle with ailing health—you are more familiar with your Trouble scenarios than you are with your High Places possibilities. In other words, your Trouble has become something of a comfort zone/home for you.

. . . Step . . .

Just for a moment or two, stop thinking about your Trouble and begin to think about your High Places. Your High Places.

Who are you on your High Places?

What do you do there?

What do you think about?

Who are you as your Highest Self?

What is your purpose, and what is your passion?

Do you have courage? Are you a bold woman, saying what you truly think and owning your true feelings?

Do you have convictions? (What are you certain of?)

And do you have integrity?

Do you walk in the grace of God . . . living your days by faith . . . and your nights?

Are you focused and clear and passionate about living your life?

Have you been stirred to a gentle excitement about what it really means to be alive?

Can you see yourself on your High Places?

Now, here’s the real question:

Are you, yet, ready to leave your Trouble for your High Places?

Excerpt from From Trouble to High Places: Meditations for Women Who Are So Ready to Cross the Bridges that lead to Joy! Copyright 2009 Esther Davis-Thompson

How Do You Handle the Hard Stuff?

Give It To God.

I know . . . this sounds way too simple. But it’s the best way I know to handle those seemingly impossible sticklers of real-life. Do what you can . . . give what stumps you to God. That’s truly how I’ve come to live my life.

Do you remember, as a child, when you picked up something that could harm you, your mother would say—“Give it here! Give it to me!”

Do you remember that?

Well, there are still times when we insist on picking up and holding on to things that we’re better off without. Things that we don’t understand the workings of. And heavy things that we’ve carried for so long, and become so familiar with, that we don’t realize they’re creating holes in our womanspace and making us act other than who we truly are.

Today . . . sit in Spirit for a time. Think about that thing that’s worrying you, dominating your thoughts, and determining the color of your days. Give this thing that is broken, cracked, dirty, wrong, too hard, and too tiresome . . . to God. Give the impossible thing that sits heavy in the middle of your mind, and in the middle of your life, to God . . . and let God deal with it. Let Spirit do what Spirit does—work things out Divinely. Have that much faith. And keep reminding yourself that this is no longer your battle to fight. It’s Spirit’s battle now. Refuse to give so much thought to it anymore. Pray about it. Leave it alone.

***

My God,
Today, I am thankful . . .
for the health I do have,
for the strength I do have,
for the hope I do have,
and for the wisdom I do have.
For the family you’ve given me,
for the friends you’ve given me,
and the love you’ve placed in my life.
For the peace you’ve given me
and for the clarity you’ve given me.
For answers to prayers,
and for solutions to problems
(especially those I didn’t expect).
For fullness of heart on some days
and for my aching heart on other days.
For the experiences that stretched me
and for the experiences that bled my heart clean.
I am thankful, Lord,
for your reasons,
and your purposes.
For the things I understand
and the things I don’t.

___
From Trouble to High Places: Meditations for Women Who Are So Ready to Cross the Bridges That Lead to Joy!

What change does your spirit-woman want to create?

Re-inventing your womanspace has everything to do with honoring your creativity. Imagining new things. Dreaming and envisioning. Exploring your passions and your wonder. Taking every opportunity to bring new, good things into existence!

How can you spark your creativity? (Creativity is always needed to approach the path to your High Places.) You can start with these questions:

What in your life is already good and right?

What would you like to see more of?

What do you fancy? What do you really like doing?

What could you do in your little corner of the world, today, that would make your inner-woman smile?

Could you make one little change?

What small thing could you create today?

What small change could you create?

Do you know that positive change is sacred?

When you move a chair, or place a flower, plant a seed or make a skirt, speak your truth or give some love, you are creating change. You are causing something that never was to be. You are creating something where there was nothing. You are moving energy from one state of being to another. You are focusing your power, like a laser, to create change.

Change begets change.

Little changes can make you think you could make bigger changes.
You are up and moving forward.

Start with this thought: You are moving forward.

This is a new day for you.

You have decided to commit yourself to creating a better life for yourself.

Hug yourself. (Really!)

Celebrate. (Really!)

Be thankful that you’ve come to this place of mind.
Make it real to yourself by saying it aloud . . . and then writing it down and tucking it away for safekeeping—

“Today, I am taking a step toward re-creating my life.

I am walking toward the many bridges that will lead me to Joy!

I am reaching for my High Places. “

Are you keeping your dreams waiting?

Are you thinking one life in your womanspace . . . but living another in your day-to-day reality?

Do you feel as if your outer-Self is walking way out of tune with your spirit-Self?

Are you feeling as if your inner-spaces are not settled, and not at peace?

And have you been wishing you could make some changes?

A good place to start? Ask yourself— “Is my High Places life full blown and blooming in my imagination? Am I beginning to get a sense of who I am as my Highest Self?”

If so, this is a good thing. The fact that you feel unsettled and dissatisfied with your day-to-day reality is also a good thing. Your inner-woman is trying to show you some ways in which you’re not living your best possible life . . . and she wants you to pay attention.

We all have a little Voice of Protection. A spirit-voice that persistently suggests that we could have a life with more peace, more courage, more love, more strength . . . and that we are entitled to occupy a wealthy and abundant space of being. It’s time to listen to that voice as she dreams up dreams and joyful visions. Stop drowning her out! Stop shushing her! Her willingness to dream is your Blessing! God never said you couldn’t have dreams. In fact, we were created to dream and envision.

Realize that you can stand right now, by faith, already empowered, and in a state of grace. Let that thought be your new mindset and your new confirmation of the power you were born with to get yourself to wherever you want to go.