In our last article Is Self-Nurturing Selfish? we exposed that attending to ourselves – our health and wellbeing (aka self-nurturing) first, is not selfish and that although this is often thought to be the case, that it is indeed a deeply harmful myth.

In this article we would like to offer simple tools to support you to put yourself first – not for selfish reasons, but so that you are able to be of full service to others and bring your all to what you do and those you meet.

When we fill our own tank with the right fuel, we feel equipped for life.  We feel vital within ourselves to be able to support others – our partners, kids, friends, work colleagues and our clients at work. We know for ourselves, being in the health and wellbeing industry where our work is all about supporting others, unless we offer this to ourselves first of all, then there is no way that we can truly offer this to others.

So here are some of our top tips of how.

We all know how better we feel when we have rested well. The quality of our sleep very much depends on the quality in which we are with ourselves throughout our day.  Also what is important for a good night rest is a proper unwinding down period that leads into the evening and your bed time. Beyond the needed physical, mental, emotional rejuvenation, quality sleep is also a key factor in the process of healing, increase of awareness and being able to handle life generally. Read our article on Top 10 ten tips for getting a good nights sleep.

What we eat has a significant effect on how we feel, and reciprocaly how we feel has a significant impact on the food we choose to eat. If we eat fresh unprocessed foods and limit our sugar, caffeine and alcohol intake then naturally we are going to feel better. There are “no set” rules that we recommend when it comes to diet except listening to your body, i.e truly observe how you feel when going for certain food as well as after eating them. Absolute honesty is key here. We have eliminated gluten, sugar and dairy from our diet many years ago and have felt the benefits of feeling lighter, more energy and clearer from this way of eating. Preparing and eating your food in a quality of connection is also a deep self-nurturing act.

  1. Our bodies need and love to move, so let’s move them! Exercising from a place of connection and honoring the body is going to offer the most benefit. Try not to subscribe to the “no pain, no gain” methodology, this will simply bring a hardness into your body and take out the joy.  It may feel good in the moment, but this is simply adrenaline which soon subsides and doesn’t support your wellbeing long term. You may like to try one of our online exercise classes to see how we do it. Click here for your free trial 30 min Connection & Core exercise class.

  2. This is the basis of how we choose to live our lives and it is a game changer. Be with your body in what you do. Bring your thoughts to match what your body is doing rather than the two being separate. Get out of your head and drop into your body. Feel what it is that you are doing, rather than think about it. Bring conscious presence into all of your movements. Our Body Awareness Meditation can support you with this. The quality of your movements are important. Let go of being hard with yourself (and this includes your thoughts), be gentle in your movements.

  3.  When we connect with the greater purpose of what it is that we offer to our work, family and relationships, it helps to take our ‘self’ out of the equation and make it about the bigger picture. When we have our sleep, diet, exercise and conscious presence sorted, it is much easier to connect to purpose and make life about everything and everyone.

So you can see that self-nurturing doesn’t need to be difficult or hard. We encourage you to take these simple steps to support yourself so in turn you can be there for others. Don’t compromise and get support where needed. We are here if needed. Contact Us