Dear World
Dear citizens of the world
Dear everyone and anyone
Take note – this Self Care stuff is super important
SELF CARE WEEK – 12 – 18 November 2018
Annual National Awareness week that focuses on embedding support for Self Care across communities, families and generations.
Theme “Choose Self Care for Life”
This strapline is for organisations to encourage them to use Self Care week “as a hook to help people choose self care for a healthier, happier life”. (1)
Can we really hook anyone in to ‘Self Care’?
Do we need to take Individual Responsibility?
Can an organisation really help us to choose Self Care, if all those involved are not truly living a life of Self Care?
Can we agree that our definitions of healthy and happy life are not the same?
In other words, we don’t all agree with what it is to be healthy and happy.
On that note read our Happiness blog –
https://simplelivingglobal.com/international-day-of-happiness/
Simple Living Global has presented 140 blogs thus far – asking us all to consider what Real and true Self Care is and then presented practical ways that this can be done for lasting change and benefit to all.
Could it be possible that to truly inspire another would have more benefit than to try and ‘hook’ people in?
In other words, we can inspire if we reflect to another by our living way.
That means we walk the talk, we live what we are asking others to consider because we know it works.
It works because we live it – we are the anecdotal evidence.
The founder and author of this website knows what it means to truly Self Care and has inspired many from all walks of life, around the world to be and do the same.
Reference
(1) (2018). Self Care Week Resources. Self Care Forum. Retrieved November 12, 2018 from
http://www.selfcareforum.org/events/self-care-week-resources/
Comments 11
“It works because we live it – we are the anecdotal evidence.”
I absolutely love this.
We are the antecdotal evidence.
I can attest to being inspired by people who walk the walk of self care.
Not the ‘I’ve been on holiday or to the spa or had a good sleep’ variety, but enduring self care. Lived consistently.
You can see it in the eyes and the skin and the gait and the bounce and how settled they are.
True vitality is palpable.
You can’t fake it.
But it is within all our grasp.
Waitrose Weekend Magazine – 6 December 2018
Self Care is one of 2018’s hottest social media hashtags.
The article notes that self care has been an important phenomenon as far back as Ancient Greece – with the message ‘Take good care of yourself and you’ll take care of those around you.’
It is interesting that we have had such wisdom for such a long time and yet we have not put this into practice and adapted our way of living accordingly.
But what if that is the only way to truly evolve?
Instead the popular way seems to be to trash the body and to put all manner of toxins into it.
If we know that taking care of ourselves, means that we will take care of those around us, why do we not live this?
One woman is quoted as saying – “We need self-care to counteract the fast pace of life. As humans, we’re not built to be on the go all the time, we need rests, breaks and activities that calm our nervous systems. When our stress response is on all the time, it impacts our immune and digestive systems and can lead to “overwhelm”.
Another says about self care: “It is needed now more than ever. Many of us never switch off. We sleep next to our phones and emails, news stories and messages ping at all times of the day and night. It’s an assault on our senses and it can seem like there’s no escape from things which are largely out of control.”
Is it possible that we have deliberately created a society that does not self care because we know the ripple effect it has on others?
Have we placed our emphasis on competitiveness and one up man ship and so self care does not figure if that is our focus?
What if this lack of self care is because we do not want to evolve?
Is it possible that we could start to grow others through the simple act of self care?
What if caring for ourselves means that we naturally start to care for others, as we recognise that we are all the same and that we ALL require the same attention?
What if starting with self care would allow us to shift the focus on all of the busyness out there and bring us back to connecting with ourselves and our bodies, so we begin to break the pattern of overwhelm?
What if there is a way out of the mess that we have created on earth and it starts with self care?
This comment is really spelling it out and I really like those quotes from people who certainly know what they are talking about as it makes sense to me.
You have mentioned the pattern of overwhelm Shevon as has the first woman in her quote.
I would like to add that from my experience our body is first suffering from exhaustion and because this goes under the radar or buried with the lifestyle choices of distraction, plus foods and beverages that keep us going and race our nervous system, things go un-noticed to a point.
Even when our immune system or digestive system is off or out, we have solutions and the pharmaceuticals are just there to supply to our every need. Not once do we see a billboard or advert saying STOP – ASK THE WHY QUESTION
WHY is this happening?
Over time with the exhaustion increasing and no true lifestyle changes taking place, our body goes into overwhelm and that’s when the stress levels go up and we have things like high blood pressure and other things happening.
I am no medic or qualified academic to say this but from lived experience and knowing what I know and what I have learned, this feels a true statement and it’s time to share it online and say it as it is.
Our world is in a serious mess and this self care business is booming, but what if we can make the simple changes, small steps at a time and see a real difference?
My biggest tip for self care is get the sleep thing right and then you are on the way.
There is a science to sleep and it’s there on our sleep blog on this website.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/world-sleep-day/
This science about the time we go to bed and how important our sleep wake cycle is should be on the school agenda from day dot.
Once we have a quality to our sleep, chances are the other natural self care stuff follows but without it we are simply going around almost like we have not quite landed with 2 feet firmly on the ground.
The Week – 29th December 2018
Issue 1208, p.25
A study by Cambridge University reported in June 2018 looked at data on more than 8,000 American women and they found that the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure all increased in line with how many children they had. E.g. over a 30 year period, women with five or more children were 40% more likely to suffer a serious heart attack than those with two. Pregnancy and childbirth can put a strain on the heart; but having a lot of children also means women have less time for “self care”, the researchers said.
Is it possible that our choice to self-care requires the same if not more importance as our choice to have children?
Is it possible that without self-care as part of our foundation, we are unable to truly care for our children and role model to them what self-care means?
Would we be wise to support mothers and mothers to be to live with self-care so that they do not become burdened, drained and dis-eased?
Is it possible that the simple act of self-care could be the key preventative every day medicine needed for us all, to reduce the rising illness and disease rates?
I love this topic. Self Care has changed my life and I am continually inspired by those who live it, to deepen and deepen my own self care. The author of this blog being one such person.
Self care changed my life from multiple health problems to now being vital, healthy and enjoying life. It’s remarkable how the little things add up to become a supportive way to live and be out in the world.
Such as –
How I prepare for bed
My wind down
How I put myself in bed
Warming my clothes on the radiator whilst I’m in the shower to keep warm afterwards
Being tender with my body so it feels loved and cared for – very healing
Staying present as much as I can, so I don’t react to things and get knocked by emotions
Self care costs nothing but has a deep and lasting effect on how life can be and it is something that then naturally extends out to others, I have found.
I can feel how uniting this would be if we all brought self care into our lives and each other.
The Week – 1211
26 January 2019
p.19
More Food Key for Elderly
Fewer elderly people would die after traumatic operations if they were given more to eat in hospital. That, at least, is the implication of an NHS pilot scheme involving hip fracture patients. Launched in 6 NHS trusts in 2016, it involved patients being given a fourth meal each day by a nutritional adviser, who would then sit down with them while they ate.
During the period in question, it was found that mortality rates halved (from 11% to 5.5%), while the average time patients spent in hospital fell from 25 days to 20.
“At that point, it’s all about getting calories into the patient,” said Dominic Inman, an orthopaedic surgeon and one of the scheme’s architects. However, doctors believe that having someone sit with the patients may have boosted their morale, which could also have an impact on their recovery. Health chiefs are considering whether to roll the policy out more widely.
Is it possible that self-care is what is needed in our daily lives and so the fact that more of the elderly survived when they were given more to eat, lets us know that our nutritional intake is key to self-care?
Is it possible that an essential part of self-care is connecting with others?
Could the fact that having someone sit by a patients’ bedside aided their will to live?
Is it possible that we could be educating patients whilst they are in hospital, about self-care and that this would support them when they are discharged home?
Could this support them to not have repeated admissions to hospital?
Is this a way that we could support our health systems in the long-run as a drop in repeated admissions means that there is less pressure on medical staff, as patients are taking responsibility at home?
Is there a different type of patient care that includes patients caring for themselves, that is required?
Is this the responsibility that is needed?
Have we ever considered what true self-care means at work?
Is it wellness rooms with climbing frames and facilities where women can have breast milk expressed and couriered to their babies or is there more?
Is it enough for us to create quiet spaces when, if we are honest, minds are still racing at a million miles an hour, no matter how quiet an environment is?
Or is support which shows staff how to connect within to a place of true quiet which comes from an inner-stillness what is needed?
Are we satisfied with having the billiards rooms and the cycle storage room at hand at work?
Have we questioned why we need to have medical care facilities at work like GPs and nurses?
Have we made work so important that we no longer have the time to go and have our health needs checked in the community?
Is it an indictment on how we have allowed the work place to be that we need psychology and psychiatry available on tap?
How has it got to this stage that we as a society are accessing more and more of these medical services?
Is the workplace to blame or as workers do we need to be examining how we live and our daily lifestyle choices?
We can put all of the state of the art services in the world into any workplace and pump a lot of money into them, but if we as workers are unwilling to look at how we live and whether we are truly caring of ourselves, is it possible that no-thing will change?
I just found this quote that I took note of back in 2012.
It was from a Dr. Howard Clinton where he said that “It is hard to truly help others if you are not looking after yourself. At some level they can sense the disorder in you and that affects your ability to help them. Helping others without looking after yourself is draining and exhausting”.
Reflecting on what he is saying it makes total sense and regardless of what profession we work in or where we reach out to help another, if we are not in self care and looking after our own health and well-being then how can the other person benefit, in truth?
I like what he says about how others can sense the disorder as that to me means we know when someone for example has a habit of drinking alcohol after work and yet they are say a medical professional and their job is making sure they take great care of their patients. Of course it would not work, as they have a body that has a dis-order because we all know alcohol is a scientific proven poison and has no health benefits whatsoever.
What this doctor is saying is we have to walk the talk and that means before we go out there opening our mouth and giving advice or offering to help another, we need to be aware of what movements we are making regarding our own health and wellbeing.
Too many of us jump on the bandwagon and get impressed by what another says, but how many of us are honest enough to admit we sense the disorder but nevertheless stay on that wagon because the masses have joined.
It would be wise for all of us to pay attention to what this man is saying when he says our disorder affects our ability to help another. We seem to have this innate desire to help another yet very few of us consider the quality of what we are bringing when we reach out to help.
What if he is bang on about being drained and exhausted if we look after others without first and foremost looking after ourselves?
From lived experience, I can honestly say this is the truth. I spent decades being the good nice Samaritan with a hidden need to be liked and recognised for what I was doing and it came with utter disregard for my own health and well-being.
It took the life and work of Serge Benhayon for me to listen and make some practical much needed changes to knock out my exhaustion and understand why I was being drained and how I could turn the tides, once and for all.
Today, it would be true to say that I do help many in my community and beyond with consistent vitality levels simply because I make sure I take deep care of myself and my well-being first.
We can now have Demolition therapy sessions costing £50 for 30 minutes to smash up computers and phones in the name of justice, for all the things that you had to put up with during lockdown, like your physical fitness tracker, that failed to clock every walk during the pandemic.
You get given hard hitting tools, like axes and golf clubs before sending you off into a “rage room” and “leaving you to it”.
The company give you broken tech so that it minimises un-necessary wastage, so what you destroy has no further purpose and that is why it ends up in the rage room.
Who on earth comes up with this and have we checked our precious and delicate heart?
How does it feels about the force that we have to wield in and through our body to make the move to demolish or smash up hard objects?
Or are we caught up in the new and latest therapy because it’s different and sounds like a great way to deal with our intense frustration and anger at what the pandemic has done to us?
Is this the latest trend that will fast become a huge global business or is it something we will wake up and realise holds no true meaning or purpose, because our frustration may get momentarily relief but it could prove to not last as most things don’t, when we go for a solution or quick fix approach?
And final question as this blog is about Self Care?
Is this what we call therapy that truly supports our Self Care?
SELF-CARE
Here we have two words, hyphenated, that has the potential to have vastly varying degrees of meaning.
Self-care to one person is having that cup of coffee in the morning to wake up whereas, to another person, it means to have a long soak in the bath after a day’s work.
Self-care to one person is playing squash three times a week while self-care to another person, is making sure they wear warm clothing, a hat and gloves on a chilly day.
We will all have our interpretations of what to ‘self-care’ means, and I am sure we will all stick by our version of what self-care means to us.
All I know is that, to the best of my ability and without perfection, my version of self-care now is something totally different to what it used to be.
To list all the ways that I have changed my ‘self-care’, from how it was to how it is now, would be too long.
All I will say is that self-care is not doing anything that would put my body in harms way. This means to wrap up warm when it is cold, to eat foods that I know will nourish me, to not push my body when exercising – anything that does not harm me.
As I said, it is not done with perfection and when I do something that I could have done with more self-care, I am shown straight away how it affects my body.
Of course, self-care is much more than doing things that do not harm us – it is also about making sure we do not harm others as well.
As the author of this website says, there are many blogs here that show us how to truly self-care, which means that by living what is presented here, we can reflect the truth to anyone who wants to take notice.
Talking to a friend who tells me that the lack of care is horrific as she observes in the health system. Hospital staff are so deeply un-caring that it leaves her shocked to see this kind of behaviour in the so-called ‘caring profession’.
On that note, coming from lived experience, I say we ought to re-name our care homes to non-care homes as that is what I am observing and know this goes on everywhere. We can pretend, ignore or say it is not happening but it is.
We blame lack of funds, short staff, pandemic, lockdowns and everything else we want but we forget something simple – the staff need to care for themselves and when this happens we stand a chance for those that they are paid to care for.
Yesterday, I watched the carer on her mobile phone sitting in the dining area. No supervisors or management on the radar, as there was something going on in the building, which no doubt this person was aware of. So they could ignore the elderly residents that happen to pay her wage and hope they will never say anything, which of course they don’t and some would be dismissed as they are old and not mentally stable.
What we do not realise are the consequences of such action.
An old man in his late 80s left with no socks on as he cannot dress himself and what makes it worse is he suffers with cold feet but when he asked for help, the carer said they are busy and will come later. They never came of course.
This is the non-care so why call them care homes? They are not and in order to earn that title they need to step up and raise the standard, which starts with self care.
How else can we deeply take care of another if we do not have those inbuilt qualities that we value and know are important for our self?
I know that in the past self care for me was a day trip down the posh spa or some other kind of pampering. Never did I view it as self loving choices that deeply support my body, like going to bed early and coming off caffeine, alcohol and chocolate to name a few things, as all were harming me.
Back to care homes – if we carry on with our current lifestyle choices, we can be assured that many of us will end up being in a residential home that houses masses of us ‘waiting to die’ as that is why we go there or end up there.
What if we started taking the steps as presented in this blog and on this website?
Could it be possible we will not end up in one of those care or non-care homes in the future?