We'll be happier and calmer, we'll last longer, emotionally, and otherwise.
Part of personal growth requires awareness. Especially during stressful times, when everything screams urgency. A restorative idea during stressful times requires doing LESS than we can achieve.
That's taking care of us. We will be encouraged by the strength we receive when investing in ourselves by slowing down and pausing. It strengthens the soul when we spend quiet time in the morning.
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| Codependency, getting my worth from others, makes me a lamb that follows the crowd, not true to my own identity. I sacrifice my integrity. |
These emer-gencies prod us to neglect our mental, emotion-al, physical, and spiritual well-being.
Balance cre-ates ease in our lives. It provides emotional safety and it allows executive functioning---clearer thinking and better responses when life challenges us.
Donning armor---through reflective, nurturing, quiet times---fortifies us. Taking care of ourselves increases our resil-iency. Making time to nurture ourselves requires fitting ourselves with an emotional breastplate.
It helps us ward off daunting blows---the emotional and mental poundings encountered from sunrise to sunset. Thus protected, our strengthened spirit will more likely overcome the day's quota of diffi-culties.
This happens when placing our needs first when beginning our day. Our inner selves remain whole, intact. Great idea.
In the early hours of the day, reading, meditating, and praying provides perspective.
It prevents the demands of life from clogging our vision and making time for reflec-tion heals us from myopia. It spares us from the inability to see the larger vista of how we want to live today, this week, month, and year with vitality.
The following quote helps us gain balance.
HALT. Don't get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired. I use this reminder to help me set healthy limits for myself, which I never learned as a a child. In the past, I often believed I should be able to go for days without enough food or sleep. I also tested the limits of my ability to handle enormous doses of stress and isolation without tending to my own emotional needs.
I've learned a gent-ler, simpler way of caring for myself. I find it of great ben-efit to have a brief list of the most basic areas in which I neglect my own well-being: nour-ishment, emotion-al wellness, fellowship, and physical rest. First, is my stomach rumbling? Then I need to stop what I'm doing and eat.
Am I too angry about the trivial details of my life? If so, I can take a break by punching a pillow or engaging in phy-sical exercise [or process these issues with a trusted emotion- ally healthy friend]. Am I lonely? I could get together with friends or call someone. Finally, am I so tired that I cannot keep my eyes open? Then it's time to lie down for a nap or a good night's sleep.
When stressed, I'll stop to check whether my basic needs are being met. We can watch for the need to HALT and give ourselves special attention when we are feel-ing Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.
We have greater liveliness and excitement when taking care of ourselves. We do this by nurturing our feelings, do-ing so, we embolden our spirit. To live more healthfully demands us to see self-neglect realistically. We are engaging in self-abuse.
Life becomes more enjoyable when we focus on our needs, in ad-dition to those of others. The result will be that our Attitude of Gratitude grows, too.
How About You?
What are signs that let you know you need to HALT?
What do you do to unwind and nurture your spirit and undo frazzled emotions?
Posts
4 comments:
Here is my 4th try at posting my gratitudes. Seeing that big, red stop sign reminds me that I need to take care of me, something you know I'm not that good at. My gratitudes for today would be:
1. I am grateful for such a beautiful day...God's canvas has such color and clarity today.
2. I'm grateful for you my friend...it is always good to read your encouraging and enlightening thoughts.
3. I will be grateful if and when this post goes through...my patience is running thin. It's time for HALT.
My Dear Phyllis,
It's always great hearing from you, my coastal colleague. I'm glad you, several other former members and I continue enjoying each other's company, here. This place is in its infancy---less than three weeks old. Others will drop by, I'm sure, to say hello. Many visit already: 800 so far, the stats reflect a good portion come from the SSS url.
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I know this inn will become a home away from home, like inns are supposed to be. SSS lives on when we fellowship together. Each of us who participated, carry a bit of it with us. When former members gather at different alternative venues, we bask in the fellowship kindled there.
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Happy to see you once again.
Phyllis, I'm so sorry you've had a difficult time posting here. I'm sorry I'll not be able to read what was lost.
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It looks like the kinks are being resolved. I'm crossing my fingers. I'm happy you persisted. Thanks also for your honesty.
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Grateful to know you..
Yes, this is very true. I am grateful that I am learning to take care of myself, something I've not been very good at in the past (and still fail at, but less often). Small victories. ;)
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