A Window Into Spiritual Self-Care

We had an intimate group this week which was sweet. This group is a time to drop in and tend to yourself as a rare mother. It takes a commitment of time and energy which may be challenging when you are constantly updating to the kind of care that your child needs along with developmental shifts as they grow. Your child is a fluidly changing and continuously moving target which may be overwhelming at times. Just when you think you’ve got their care dialed in, bam! Something changes with their health or they outgrow the way you’ve been relating to them. It’s a lot to navigate. 

Amidst all of this, it is no small thing to make time for yourself and to realize that you as a rare mother are a priority. What would it mean to love yourself as much as you love your family? Spiritual self-care is a discipline and if you show up, you’ll find your way and feel held by your practice. Will you make the time to discover what nourishes you and what works in the balance of your life? It’s up to you.

Some possible ways you might engage in spiritual self-care are:

* Putting yourself on your list

* Resetting to neutral as soon as you realize you’re triggered

* Spending time in silence (Just 5 minutes a day makes a difference)

* Pausing and allowing tension to melt away (breathing helps with this)

* Practicing this: Begin Again--remember, you can free yourself from the trap of your thoughts at any moment. How about now?

As a rare mother, you might also want to redefine self-love. What if self-love means you respect yourself by being able to set a structure and maintain it? For example, one rare mother talked about putting the act of taking a walk every day on her list even above doing certain things for her daughter. This is radical self-love and it might not be easy at first for you to do this. Give it a try and when you do something for yourself like taking your daily walk, acknowledge yourself. Celebrate a moment of loving yourself. You deserve it. If there is any resistance to making time to do things for yourself, feel it and trust that practicing self-love will increase your quality of life which ultimately will benefit your child and your family. 

You are welcome to join us on Tuesday mornings at 10am PST for our meeting. Come as you are. You can choose to turn on your video and leave it off--whatever is comfortable for you. I look forward to being with you soon.

Your ally in self-love,

Padma

P.S. I wanted to share the poem by Dana Faulds from Go In and In that I read last Tuesday. May it nourish you.  

Together

We call down grace,

And gaze without wavering

Into the fires of creation.

We find the place where

Love embraces fear, and 

Tears taste like faith.

We let our radiance

Be revealed in laughter

And in longing.

We hold the whole of life,

Sweet grapes and bitter,

Healing herbs --

We hold until we overflow

And offer back the gifts

That we’ve received.

The vessel never empties.

The growing of love between

Us keeps it filled.