Tag: self-care

Posted in a guided journal, guided journal, journal, journaling, self-care, self-care practice, Self-Care Tip, self-empowerment, wellness

Self-Care Tip: 5 Ways To Be Kind To Yourself

Posted on by Cynthia D. Griffin

A small act of kindness can go a long way. A smile can brighten someones whole day. A thank you can make someone feel appreciated. And giving yourself some positive self-talk can completely change the way you feel about something. Kindness matters, especially being kind to yourself.

When the topic of being kind is discussed, it’s usually about a kindness someone else has done, or something you might have done for someone else. All types of kindness are important. Every single act of kindness (no matter who is doing it) helps spread more kindness. But in the process of being kind to others, are you also being kind to yourself?

You can be kind to yourself in many ways. In this post, I have listed 5 ways to show more kindness to yourself.

1. Positive Self-Talk is one of the biggest ways you can be kind to yourself. It can be easy to fall into the pattern of negative self-talk. In fact, you probably do it all the time, but may not even be aware of it. I challenge you to see if you can catch how you talk to yourself.

Are you being your own cheerleader? Are you giving yourself positive feedback? Are you being encouraging and compassionate? Are you forgiving yourself for past mistakes? I bet you say these kind of encouraging words to your friends and family all the time, so why not say them to yourself as well?

2. Do Something Nice For Yourself is a really great way to put yourself in a good mood. Maybe you deserve a nice massage? Or perhaps a new hair cut? What about a new outfit that makes you feel fabulous? Or maybe just an extra long soaking bath?

When you take the time to do something nice for yourself, you are showing kindness and love to a very special person––yourself. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?!

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Posted in self-care, self-care practice, self-empowerment, self-improvement

How To Start A Self-Care Practice

Posted on by Cynthia D. Griffin
Image from Pixabay

Last weeks post, Why Is Self-Care Important?, I got the ball rolling on what I hope will be a regular blog series talking about self-care. I say hope, because self-care is my number one priority. It comes before even committing to do things like writing posts for this blog.

Be Aware Of Triggers

In fact, I try to stay away from any hard commitments on purpose, because I can’t stand being on hard deadlines. It’s one of the things I have recognized as a trigger point for me, so I try to soften this trigger point as much as I can.

That, my friends, is one important aspect of self-care. Recognizing your triggers, and being kind enough to yourself to stay away from them, or find a way around them, or soften things until you can face the trigger more head on.

Learn To Know How You Feel

Self-care is about being aware of how you feel. It’s about noticing when you get angry or upset and asking yourself why. And asking––Is this really worth getting upset about? Is this worth my peace of mind?

Does something, someone, or a situation make you feel bad? What can you do to minimize or cut any of these feel bad things from your life?

Minimize what feels bad and increase the good feeling stuff (whatever that might be for you). Do more of what you love. Do more of what you feel passionate about. Do more of what lifts you up.

Build Up More Awareness Of Yourself

Self-care is about getting in touch with yourself and recognizing what feels good and what doesn’t. Do things on a daily basis that’s going to help you get the awareness you need to identify your emotions.

For me that has been meditation and yoga. These two things have allowed me to raise my awareness significantly over time.

There are other ways to do the same thing if mediation and yoga is not for you. Do some research and see what resonates with you. I personally think that any sort of regular exercise, even just walking everyday, would be helpful. Regular movement of the body and mind are important for not just physical health, but mental as well.

An important part of self-care is taking care of yourself. That means implementing choices that are going to help you on a physical, mental, and emotional level.

Do Something For You First Thing In The Morning

The best way to get the day going on the right foot is to do something for you as soon as you roll out of bed. It doesn’t matter what it is or how long it takes, the main priority is to get those good feelings going right away. When you feel good, the day will go a whole lot better for you.

My usual go-to first thing in the morning is to journal. I do this either in bed before breakfast, or first thing after breakfast. I can spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes journaling. It just depends on what I need for that particular day.

My journaling can include releasing negative thoughts and emotions, but I also make sure to end my journaling session with some sort of uplifting writing that sets me up for my good mood to start the day. This is why I created the Journaling To Feel Good series.

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Posted in inspirational, self-care, self-empowerment, self-improvement

Why Is Self-Care Important?

Posted on by Cynthia D. Griffin
Image from Pixabay

If you have been following my blog lately, you know that I have had a common theme in several of my posts on the topic of self-care. This is because this practice has taken a major front seat in my life, and since making this change, I’ve enjoyed richer life experiences.

So I would like to take the time to write out some blog posts on my knowledge of self-care and how powerful it can be, not only for myself (because it’s been a passion of mine for awhile), but anyone that might be interested in starting their own self-care practice, or those wanting validation (and support) for a the self-care practice they already have in place.

I will get the ball rolling with discussing why self-care is so important.

Self-care is the ultimate expression of love. When we love ourselves enough to care how we feel, we are showing love not just to ourselves, but others too. We can do more, be more, and share more when we are at our best. This is why self-care is an important practice to have in our lives.

The misconception is common that we should put others first, that if we take time for ourselves or focus on ourselves too much, then we are being selfish. But how can a person be a functioning member of their friends, family, or even society, if they are stressed out, frazzled, and/or too sick to give back time or effort?

When we don’t feel good (for any reason, no matter how big or small), we are not just stealing from ourselves, but every other person we come in contact with. We are stealing the opportunity to have peace, joy, love, and happiness. We are stealing the opportunity to be our best selves.

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Posted in a guided journal, guided journal, journaling, new release, self-care, self-improvement

New Release: The Daily Self Care Journal

Posted on by Cynthia D. Griffin

Here it is The Daily Self Care Journal. I came up with idea for this around the first part of December. I wasn’t sure it would be completed and published in December, but I’m glad it was done for the new year. It’s a perfect way to get the year rolling.

This is not part of the Journaling to Feel Good Series. This is a standalone journal that can be used daily (or a few days a week).

It has six writing prompts each day that doesn’t change, but what does change is the affirmation written across the top of each page. I believe there are eight in total. One for a day, and then it rotates through them again. I find that repetition is always a good thing to help remember things that are important, and I believe these affirmations are really great foundation for a good self-care practice.

I’ve been using this journal for a couple of weeks now ( a proof copy), and I really like it as an addition to my journaling. I don’t use it every morning, but many of them. There are enough pages in this journal for a four month daily writing journal practice.

Here is the official book description…

Self-care is the ultimate expression of love. When we care about how we feel and give attention to ourselves in a regular and positive way, it opens ourselves up to a far richer and fulfilling life. This guided journal has positive affirmations and daily writing prompts to help bring awareness to the self and what is needed to realize our best life.

This journal is available in paperback on Amazon and as a printable on Etsy.

So if you are looking to start up or enhance your self-care for the new year, this is a great way to get that ball rolling!

If you try this journal, please consider leaving a review on whatever platform you purchase it on.

Enjoy!

Posted in empowerment, self-care, wellness, yoga, yoga for writers

Presenting A Self-Care Yoga Workshop

Posted on by Cynthia D. Griffin

So I decided to take a huge leap of faith this past August and start a 300 HR yoga teacher certificate training. This was a big deal for me, because this was not a self pace class like the pervious 200 HR yoga instructor certificate I finished up this past April. This was a modulated class that required a lot of my time and effort to complete lectures and assignments on a pretty strict schedule. But I powered through and finally finished up my last required assignment this past week, which was to create a two hour yoga workshop.

I chose a theme of self-care, since that has been a big priority for me, especially this year. 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us in our own ways, and what really helped me was coming back to myself and paying attention to me and how I felt. So I decided this was the perfect idea for my final project.

I did this workshop in four parts. These parts can all be watched and completed in one sitting, or one (or a few) at a time. Each part can stand alone, so if you resonate with one video and not the others, that’s okay. Here is the breakdown of each video.

Part 1: Creating Space With Breath… This 30 minute segment is using breath work (pranayama) to slow things down and create space inside of us for more breath and more peace. When we take our focus from the mind, this always helps us create space for something better to come in.

Part 2: Creating Stillness With Mediation… This 30 minute segment that uses mediation to help find stillness within. This practice helps us be more aware of our bodies and our mental chatter. It can be used to turn the focus away from the mental chatter to find the silence (and answers) that lie within all of us.

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