What’s in Your Self-Care Treasure Chest?

I’ve been thinking a lot about self-care lately.  And it seems like it’s a topic lots of my friends are exploring as well. 

To my mind it’s certainly a matter that invites frequent reassessment.  I believe that self-care is more a dynamic flow of nuanced responses rather than a rigid to-do list.   And so it requires rather broad structures as framework, but the specifics vary greatly.  There are times in our lives, our decades, our days, when we’re better at it, and times when we flounder,  but there is always always the invitation to listen and respond to the question, how can I honor and care for myself?

We tend to think of self-care practices most when they seem to have fallen furthest from us. When we reach a point where we’re stressed or overwhelmed or somehow so clearly out-of-balance that we’re called to pay attention.  And sometimes the call is very urgent – find a way to get more in balance or risk a major re-set. 

I feel like there are some yet-unseen things on the horizon for me, and as I work on getting more clarity I’m sorting through all the things that feel nurturing to me.  

The practices I’m finding most helpful in the moment:

My daily selfie practice.  This has been unexpectedly profound and the perfect launching point for my summer of exponential self-love, which is the current cornerstone of my self-care.

My gratitude practice.  This has been one constant that I can’t ever imagine letting go of, although what it actually looks like occasionally morphs.  But this is a core value for me and you’ll never convince me that it doesn’t open the way for more receiving more joy, more delight, more blessings.

The ICAD challenge.  This has been unexpectedly helpful as well.  I hadn’t really considered it would be anything more than an enjoyable few minutes of creation a day, and a chance to discover other artists.  But the discipline of this 61-day commitment to take a few minutes every day to create is bringing me delight; creating space to ride on the wave of creativity opened by those first few minutes each day in my studio; and reminding me of benefits of consistency.  I’m pleased to have this ever-growing little deck of index cards that has resulted from nothing more strenuous that simple play.

Speaking of cards, I haven’t been posting them daily, so here’s the collection of the latest.  I encourage you to take a peek at Daisy Yellow‘s blog and check out the links celebrating the ICAD creations of other players as well.

 I love this one done on Braille paper:

Because it’s Friday and the day to honor Venus, I love playing in Share the Link Love, the invitation to share links to five blogs that inspire you and jump start that creativity engine.  Head over to Diane’s CraftyPod to catch other linky love, but here are mine for this week.  I’ve chosen love up a few sites that speak to me about self-care practices.

• Suzanne R. Bank’s blog is new to me but I was delighted to find it this week, and she’s posted about two things that I consider useful in the self-care treasure chest – aromatherapy and Tarot.   This post is about the Strength card and contains a number of essential oil recipes.  Anoint yourself with something wonderful and invite in some guidance.

• Next up, food served with a side of smiles.   While nourishing self-care might look a bit healthier than this, sometimes delicious comfort food with room to experiment is just the ticket.  Take this totally adaptable scone recipe at schmutzie.com.

• Emily Townsend is a mixed media artist whose blog is Creative Art Journal.  You’ll like want to poke around her site, but I’m linking to her post about dreaming and journaling because they are two important players in my self-care and self-awareness.   

• If you’ve known me for anything over two minutes, you know I love poetry and consider it absolutely essential to life.  So we’ll be sticking it in the self-care category for sure.   I have a great fondness for found poetry, and I’m including this next recommendation because it delights me.  Poetry created by Google’s search algorithm. 

• We’ve got sight, scent, taste, touch covered, so let’s wrap up with some sound self-care.  I happen to like listening to kirtans, so I’m linking to Kitzie Stern’s New World Kirtan podcast page.  You can select from an archive of programs,  in many of which she’s interviewed artists along with showcasing their music.  I’m linking directly to a podcast that is all kirtan so you can get right to the music if that’s what you prefer.

So there you have it, a peek at some self-care practices and ideas.  What about you?  Have a favorite practice?   Is self-care something you need to be paying closer attention to?  Which of your senses are asking for a bit more attention?  What piece of delight are you going to welcome into your world?   Do tell – you know I love to hear.