Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Aug/Sept 2017 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 73
I care so deeply about this because I believe
with all my heart that we were given the gift
of deep empathy, sensitivity and intuition to
change the world. We each have our own
way of making an impact, but if we are
neglecting our self-care, our healing work
on this planet won’t have the impact that this
world so desperately needs.
Do you identify with this? Then this article is
written for you.
My first taste of giving up my own self-care
came when I had children. I very naturally fell
into my role as caregiver to my children and
my husband. My spirit and my body suffered
as I said, “Yes” to everyone and “No” to
the parts of myself yearning for attention.
I learned through the gift of my health and
marriage crisis that my priorities needed to
shift, not only for the sake of my health and
happiness, but also for the happiness of my
family. I needed to prioritize myself as much,
if not more, than I was prioritizing my family.
The realization was there, but the action
needed to follow. So much stood in the way
of my self-care, but you know what I found
out? I was my biggest obstacle. It was my
mindset and my own resistance to caring
for myself that kept me caught in a cycle of
over-giving and under-receiving.
There are three crucial practices we must put
into place to move out of a place of surviving
and into a place of thriving. This goes
beyond the, “Exercise, get plenty of sleep
and eat three healthy meals a day” advice
we often hear. Yes, these are important, but
for the highly sensitive woman, it goes much
deeper than this.
We must retrain and then support ourselves
to establish a new mindset around self-care.
Once we do this, we can implement deep,
divine self-care.
Self-Care Tool #1:
CREATE AND NOURISH
YOUR NEW MINDSET
Mindset is a self-care practice! Our
minds need daily nourishment just like
our bodies do. The first hump to self-
care is getting over any resistance to
self-care that exists in your conscious
and sub-conscious. You must develop
the belief that you are worthy of self-care
and self-love. You must believe that you
deserve to be a priority.
Nourishing your mind comes down
to creating new thought patterns that
support your desire to feel your best and
will help build this new belief. Decide how
you want to feel and why you want to feel
this way. Ask yourself what obstacles are
standing in your way to taking decisive
action toward your goals. Ask yourself
my very favorite question: What will it
cost both you and those you love if you
don’t prioritize your own self-care? Then
create daily mantras or affirmations that
will serve to create new thought patterns
and neural pathways that will support
your journey back home to yourself.
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a “giver” – someone who a) cares so deeply
for others that she often neglects her own
self-care in service to those around her and
b) lacks the boundaries and tools needed to
assert herself to put herself first and stand
in her own power.