Being a well-rounded healthy human comes with the fragility of balance.
To find our healthy mind/body balance more easily, we need to make self-care a habit instead of an afterthought.
If we aren’t used to nurturing ourselves, self-care can seem like work. If it isn’t already part of our daily routine, it takes conscious, diligent effort to create and stick to healthy habits to maintain homeostasis of both mind and body. Throughout the day we have to take care of our needs, along with our family’s needs, our work’s needs, and if you are an empath, you may even take on your community’s needs, the world’s needs… No wonder we are stressed out so easily!
We humans are creatures of habit after all! Once habits are part of our daily life, they are not a chore, they are not something we resist doing, they just become naturally part of our life. We will likely start to enjoy our new self-care habits and once we find a rhythm and routine with it, it’s hard to go about our day without them.
This is the goal for self-care. Make it part of who we are. Part of our daily rituals.
The more we take good care of ourselves, the easier it is to care for others without it feeling like a chore.
What is self care?
Any activity that makes your life better is considered self-care.
This can be as simple as doing laundry, washing and moisturizing our face, meditating, reading, watering our houseplants, doing a puzzle… this is self-care. It does not have to be a full-blown spa day with massages or an hour long bath, though those are oh-so-lovely.
In fact, small acts of self-care actually make more of an impact to reducing daily stresses.
The Peace of a Daily Routine
Once we create more self-care related habits, we fall into a routine. Routines, just as the sun rises and sets, are natural. Once we have our healthy routines, we may find it easier and easier to fall asleep at night, wake up and work out, take care of our skin, eat healthily…
Once in place, healthy habits will start to transpire into all aspects of our life.
No matter where you are at in your journey, take a few minutes to add one new self-care act into your daily life. Set your mind on it! If you are extra busy, it might be helpful to even set a reminder on your phone to make sure it comes up on your to-do list.
Try this Simple One Minute Ritual
Take a deep breathe in through your nose, filling your belly — and out through your mouth. Do this 3 times, just focusing on your breathe. Breath is the most valuable resource we have to navigate through stress. It’s always in our control, and by focusing solely on how deep our inhales and exhales are, stress can melt away.
You will come out of that minute feeling better than you went in, I promise!
Add Easy Aromatherapy
And since you know how much I love aromatherapy, I have to add that using the Zen Blend inhaler as a meditation, self-care, breathing, stress-relieving, and balancing tool is one of the easiest and handiest pocket-sized blessings to have around when you need a moment for just you.
“One conscious breath in and out is a meditation.”
- Eckhart Toll
Use the inhaler as a reminder to take deep, nourishing breaths and set your self-care intentions. Soon enough with mindfulness, these good intentions will naturally become happy habits and you will move through life with more ease and enjoyment.
Next time you get flustered or feel stuck, remember to just breathe. Keep giving yourself these gentle reminders and overtime, you'll find you need to remind yourself less and less because you have created your happy habits and are living a life well balanced. ♥
Sending you all the best wishes today and always,
Your neighborhood aromatherapist,
Rachel