Donate Now
This saying has been etched in my mind lately . Just like a cup cannot pour water if it doesn’t have any reserve we cannot pour love, happiness , kindness, generosity when we ourselves are running low on those reserves . We are all so caught up in our lives , responsibilities , relationships , career and various commitments that somewhere we have ignored to replenish our inner spirit and it’s thirst for true inner happiness .
We are often told to be kind , be patient , be loving , be forgiving , be giving , be caring and we all might follow that but how many of us truly follows it for oneself ? How many of us truly replenishes their own inner spirit ? There might be some but many of us are unable to do that .
We are so busy solving issues and problems around us and for others that we are constantly “on the go”mode .
We have so many things to do so many entanglements that we have put our core needs in the backseat . Every passing day we have growing and endless list of obligations that there’s no space for Self care . When we keep continuing this cycle of ignorance and avoidance we end up either in bad mental space or bad physical shape and when I mean shape I don’t mean size I mean physical health . The cost of avoiding and ignoring our own needs by justifying that I will deal with it later is at the expense of your own inner and physical health .
As a result what happens you get burned out or you snap or even worse your body shuts down / have a breakdown . Ignoring our core needs leads to our energy body depleting to such an extent that in time we aren’t even able to carry out simple tasks of our daily life without feeling miserable . That not only ends up affecting us but also people around us and puts a strain on our relationship .
Why self care is important ?
I truly believe that Self care which I also call Self love is the purest form of love . When you practice self love you have abundance of loving energies within you which you can pour onto others .
I also feel that it is impossible to be the best version of yourself if you aren’t prioritizing your mental and physical well being . It is not only instrumental in positively impacting your overall health and well being but it has significant positive impact on everyone connected to you especially people who rely on you .
So self care is not only vital to fostering healthy and meaningful relationships but is also essential for your physical and mental well being , scope of inner growth and elevating your current state on a much higher level.
So even though we know that we need to take care of ourselves why do we still not do it ?
Feeling of guilt and shame
Many times be it a man or a woman we feel that taking multiple responsibilities and doing more for others will help in maintaining our respect and that if we prioritize our needs first we might appear selfish . This is more prevalent in case of a woman but I am not saying men don’t face the same issue . As humans we all have our individual experiences and this is part of the norm where the more you do more you look good in the eyes of people .
Societal conditioning
As a society we tend to cherish the idea of pushing forward or soldering on which removes our focus from our needs to what society expects of us or what the outside world demands of us . If we decide to take a break or just take a breather from our stressful situation we fear that we will be judged .
too many obligations
When our hands our full of obligations our mind is completely occupied thereby leaving no room to think about our own needs and benefits .
inability to say no
This starts from our upbringing and we carry this behaviour until our adulthood . Some are able to break out of this habit and some are stuck with it . Many of us do not know how to say no to something that isn’t of immediate urgency or feel bad while saying no to something which is not a priority we feel obliged to take that commitment and end up with more than we can handle .
Lack of conscious effort
We all have this default mindset is: “Well I’m coping right now, I can just get through the day and deal with it later.” Many times we feel that taking care of our mental and physical health is too time consuming and that creates a mental block which as result leads to not prioritizing our own self .
lack of accountability
When we are trapped and stuck in a situation or circumstance for too long or going through similar bad experiences for an extended period of time in order to ease our pain and suffering we tend to shift blame onto others and thereby not accepting responsibility for our own situation. This is our mental response to protect our ego and our self image by creating this mental image of righteousness of our self in our mind and how others took advantage of us . This is a kind of survival response where you are trying to not fall apart and protecting your inner self by creating a positive image of yourself in your mind . But what we don’t realize is by shifting blame onto others our problems won’t solve rather we would end up harbouring more negative feelings and thoughts against others which would further affect us in the long run .
So how can I start with Self care ?
Identifying the problem
In order to resolve any issue it’s important to identify the issue and accept that you need to work on it . Once you complete this first step you will be in a better frame of mind of inculcating positive habits
Gratitude and forgiveness
Always write down things you are grateful for , this shifts your focus on to the good you have and makes you more secure within . Along with this we need to practice constant inner forgiveness to release ourselves of any baggage or negative attachments so we can move ahead in life .
Start small
If you are someone who has lived his /her life for others taking this step would be hard as it’s not part of your core nature to
Prioritize you own needs first . So start small take out ten to twenty minutes a day for yourself and start extending that time to longer time frame
Positive affirmations
If you saw Betty ma’am’s live session yesterday regarding mental health and motivation you would know that she mentioned this amazing technique to feel motivated that is the first thing you do as soon as you get up is go in-front of a mirror and say I love myself everyday . That automatically tricks your mind into feeling good by instilling a feeling of love within you .
Do things you love
Just take out time for something that gives you true meaning and happiness it could be painting , cooking , listening to music , reading anything that makes you happy . This allows you to connect more with things that give you inner joy .
What are Essential strategies for Self care ?
Take a spiritual path
It will not only realign you but also make you more aware of your inner self by improving your mental retention and focus by practice of various techniques of Meditation and SADHANA . It’s also very vital for deeper connectivity and replenishing your energy body as it gives you a direction and sense of purpose .
If you are YPV practitioner or non practitioner you can gain access to various tools and techniques to improve your inner and physical health by means of
1- YPV sadhna app
2- YPV online sessions
3- YPV courses – you learn powerful techniques to work on improving your inner and physical state , environment and help people around you
Healthy relationships
It is important to foster and maintain healthy relationships around you if there’s a relationship where you feel a lot of negativity and toxicity you need practice inner forgiveness and do their healing . It is also important to distance yourself or stop engaging in toxic relationships .
Karmic obligations – there are certain relationships in our lives that of our parents , spouses and family members that we cannot distance ourselves from it’s our duty to help take care of them and fulfill their needs and requirements . Sometimes these relationships can be extremely painful and strained which signifies a huge karmic debt so you need to make every effort by means of healings , forgiveness and meditation to remove that strain from relationship . This is not the kind of relationship you can cut off or distance yourself from so it’s important to understand that you have to make every effort to neutralize that karmic strain but also at the same time make a conscious effort to maintain your inner and physical state .
In conclusion I would like to say is that self care is a conscious effort that we have to make on an everyday basis . Caring for yourself doesn’t have to be time consuming it can be attained by performing meaningful activities for short period of time on regular basis . This is something that requires ongoing attention.
On energy level if you keep giving more energy to people than you are receiving you will soon run out of energy . It’s important to understand if you keep putting others first soon you will have nothing left to give them . You need to fulfill your commitment to your betterment first in order to maintain and sustain other commitments in life .
Self care and Self love is the best gift you can give to yourself
YPV Sadhana App
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