How often do we hear that we are supposed to love ourselves? And how often do we NEED to hear it?
When we get really busy, around holidays or our work’s busy season, for example, we tend to put taking care of ourselves on the back burner. For whatever reason, and we can certainly come up with some good excuses, we just don’t get around to that ‘taking care of ourselves’ stuff!
So today I am going to ask you to join me in moving forward in the commitment to put taking care of Self at the top of the priority list.
Do you make lists? To-do lists? Shopping lists? Gift lists? Who determines the priorities on those lists? From my studies of neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis I’ve learned that our unconscious mind is in charge, whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not. We can write a list of priorities that look the way we consciously want them to look or as we feel we ‘should’ prioritize our values, but it really is more important to determine what really matters and what really motivates us. The list might look different, and usually does, when we work with our unconscious mind to determine our values and our priorities.
So what can you do to make sure that loving yourself makes it to the top of your priority list? Decide. Commit to yourself. And do the work to examine your unconscious mind and its priorities. Keep track of your activities one day. Watch how you spend your time. What is so urgent that it bumps other things off your to-do list? See if you can put something on the list that is only about taking care of yourself. Does it get done? Does it stay on the list or does it get pushed aside by emergencies? Just notice. This is not about beating yourself up but about becoming curious about exactly where your motivating forces reside within you.
Now try scheduling that ‘me time’ that you need. What would you do with an hour, a half-hour, 15-minutes of ‘me time’? Make an appointment with yourself for this and keep that time sacred. It could start with a simple 5-minute meditation or a walk around the block or 15 minutes without answering emails or the phone. I frequently take ‘tea time’ for myself. I make myself tea and get a piece of fruit or a graham cracker and sit with a book and sip tea. I don’t jump up to answer the phone. I step away from the computer. I’ve learned that everything that tries to intrude on my ‘tea time’ can wait a half-hour to be handled.
It might take some practice to ignore a ringing phone, but we do have caller ID now so, if it is an emergency you can probably detect it. You can set certain times each day that you check email and facebook and keep to that schedule so that those activities are not eating up your ‘me time.’ What activity really feeds your spirit? Do you like to write or read or play piano or make jewelry? I like to do all of these things and sometimes I just need to go to the piano and play one song to give myself a break from pondering a problem or getting things done. It’s like a meditation to get lost in the music for a few minutes.
Decide what feels good to you and then do it no matter what else tries to claim your attention or your time. You’ll find that the energy you gain from taking time for yourself makes you more productive in your other activities. If you break away from doing for others for a bit you can be more fully present to them when you move back into that shared space.
Let’s make Self-Love a priority and do the work it takes to keep it at the top of the list!
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MUSE-INGS: What is YOUR Reality?
October 10, 2012 — RosemaryHave you ever considered that maybe your view of ‘reality’ doesn’t match everyone else’s view? And could there actually be more than one ‘realities’?
We see a lot of people in the current times declaring that they have a corner on the reality market and that those who don’t agree with them should just ‘leave the country’! Hmmm…. How enlightened is that perspective?
The fact is that we are all on a trajectory toward a future that we co-create with the Universal Infinity, whether you call that partner God or The Universe or Spirit or Goddess or Source or any other name. You don’t have to believe anything about this, just as you don’t have to believe in Gravity – you just operate and the Universal Force operates, too. I guarantee that, unless you are on a spacecraft out beyond the Earth’s pull, if you drop something, Gravity will take it to the floor!
If your reality is shaped by your experiences and your beliefs, then you can examine what you believe to be ‘real’ and change it, right? This is the purpose of personal growth work – to examine what you believe and take charge of your thoughts so that you can create your desired reality in your life and the world around you. If your unconscious mind controls the subconscious actions then wouldn’t you want to examine what those actions are being based on?
I work with a lot of enlightened entrepreneurs who have figured out that doing their personal growth work IS investing in their business. If your business or relationship or life decisions are happening at the unconscious level because of beliefs that you hold from childhood experiences, then you might want to update those beliefs with up-to-date information!
And everyone around you has the same dilemma – 21st Century choices can be based on early childhood misconceptions. It is interesting, though, that sometimes those who hold most tightly to their opinions about reality are the ones who are most fearful of deep examination of the source of those very opinions. They hide behind their belief that they know their reality and there is no need to question further.
But the explorer, the person who lives in the state of curiosity and inquiry about their own being and the world around them, has the richer life. There is always something new to be discovered, something that might reinforce a belief or something that calls that belief into question. Either way, the explorer stays in the joy of discovery and excitement.
Decide to become an explorer, beginning with the inner exploration that is always a rich experience. Reinforce or reinvent decisions based on the new information you have gained through a lifetime. Do you really want your inner 6-year-old running your life today?
Devote yourself to curious inquiry into new thought around you. Quantum Physics is now proving what we’ve known in Metaphysics for thousands of years. Aren’t your curious about that? NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP), a technique I use to help people make desired changes, is based on quantum physics and neurobiology. Isn’t that exciting?
Who are you REALLY? What REALITY do you want to create for yourself? You have the power today!
PS: Tonight’s the night; I’m offering a 2-hour webinar on A Meta*Physical Checkup. And you can still sign up! Details Here.
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Please feel free to re-post this article and share it with your readers and followers. All I ask is that you include the following information when you do: