“Love yourself first, and everything else falls in line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” – Lucille Ball

Yikes!

The last few weeks have been – shall we say – challenging (shitty) for anyone who is awake and paying attention.

Hellacious comes to mind.

A Total suckfest.

Gloom & doom on parade.

A complete freak show.

I admit I’ve been reluctantly sitting in the metaphorical outhouse complaining about the stench.

And although howling over the state of things with a few hundred of my BFFs online might seem like a worthy way to cope, I’ve found it just isn’t helping me as much as I would like.

So, I consulted with my higher self (guides, angels, the universal force, the sound of the universe, the wise part of me) to ascertain what a girl might do.

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. ” – Jean Shinoda Bolen

Making a list. Checking it twice.

So.

Here’s a list of what I decided I needed to incorporate into my daily life.

If so moved, you might consider adding these ideas to your own self-care toolkit.

I find them helpful in assuaging my particularly terrified, catastrophizing, wounded spirit.

• Practice gratitude every damn day, no matter what. The lens you see the world through gets clearer when you do.
• Salt (Epsom) bath. Once a week fill up the tub with water as hot as you can stand and sit in it for a good long time. (Or use a salt scrub in the shower, if you aren’t a ‘bath’ type person.)
• Take your vitamins. Eat good, clean, home cooked food.
• Sleep, my precious. You need to get enough sleep. (I’ve heard napping after lunch is very beneficial.)
• If at all feasible, nuzzle a big fat orange cat or a lovely lithe dog, regularly. Preferably several times a day.
• Wear soft pajamas and warm socks whenever you can get away with it. (I work at home and consider pajamas to be casual Friday wear. I wear them – casually, of course – pretty much Monday through Friday).
• Drink hot cocoa covered with little marshmallows. Or Earl Grey tea. Or kickass coffee.
• Sit and stare at the blank whiteness of your journal (or laptop screen) realizing that you can fill it with anything: doodles, ideas for haircuts, grocery lists, what you most want in a man (or woman, or dog.) Don’t let that beautiful blankness intimidate you. Anything can happen. You are in charge. So, let yourself run amok.
• Meditate or pray for at least 30 minutes a day. (Or however long it takes to get to the point where a sense of possibility starts to rise up in you.)
• Spend time in nature. The crows call my name when I go out walking. The neighborhood dogs would have no one to chat with (and howl at) if I didn’t mosey by now and then. (This one should be done daily to give your spirit a break.)
• Hug a tree. It’s good for you and the tree won’t mind.
• Don’t talk about what worries or frightens you. Talk about wonder and starlight and pie.
• Avoid the time-suck that is social media. Avoid discussing politics, religion, hate, or fuck-all. Especially stop feeding the trolls. (Those damn things are everywhere and they create zero value for you or for me.)

“Let go, or be dragged.” ~ [my favorite] Zen Proverb

• Let crap go. Boyfriend acted like a clueless ass? Let it go. You behaved like a clueless ass? Let it go. Nothing good comes from dragging around trash that we should have burned or left by the roadside. Find a safe way to let it go and move on.
• Read something that keeps your brain firing away. Erotica. Word puzzles. Sci-Fi. Romance. Nonfiction. Whatever floats your boat. Read it.
• Do something for someone else. Call a friend who’s shut in. Bake someone a plate of biscuits. Make soup and share it with your next door neighbors. Write a letter. Tell a story. Lift. Someone. Up.
• Find something sweet, something kindred, each day.

Lucky? Yes. Yes, I am. 

We are all lucky to be alive right now, witnessing the changes, the paradigm shifts we are witnessing.

If this wasn’t meant to be happening, it wouldn’t be happening. If we weren’t meant to be here, we’d have taken off by now and we’d be partying with Bowie and Snape and George Michael somewhere.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, we are here and this is happening.

So, we have to take care of ourselves so we can be of service to the world. We have to take care of ourselves because we are important and beautiful and becoming what we were born to be.

We have to take care of ourselves so we have strength and wisdom in the coming days and months.

We’ll need it.

We’ll need it because we’re the people we’ve been waiting for. And our time has finally arrived.

***

Everyone has a book inside of them. Everyone has a story. Wouldn’t you love to share yours with the world? Get your free writer’s toolkit, packed with tricks and tips to get you started. Just do it. Don’t wait. Don’t die with an untold story inside you.

Copyright 2017  Shavawn M. Berry All rights reserved