When I think of how to take better care of myself, one of the things I think of is the mindfulness that I bring to my relationships, both with myself and with others.
As far as the human-to-human connection goes, I believe we learn something from everyone we meet and from all events that we encounter. When we meet new people, we come away with an experience on some level. We can be blind to its importance or we can incorporate it into our future lives.
I like to think of everyone I meet and everything I do as the snow that keeps adding to a snowball, which then eventually creates a snowman. Life is an open book of blank pages waiting to be written, and we carry with us the story that is already told on the previous pages. This is what gives us a sense of belonging. Blank pages alone can feel overwhelming and unsafe as they often represent the unknown most fear. But blank pages also open up the possibility of creation, and we are the ones filling in the words.
I like creating new relationships because I always learn something about others and thereby something about myself. I believe that we see in others what reflects our own inner world at that moment. So in a way, we need each other to be whole, but not because of the other doing anything for us, but rather because the other helps us get closer to our self.
As women, we often tend to others before caring for ourselves. We eat after our children eat, we sleep after everyone else is well off in dreamland, and we exercise when everyone else is done with their schedule. Basically that means there’s rarely time for us.
But how does that kind of self-care reflect back to the others in our lives? What’s the quality of the relationship we’re building with ourselves going to reflect back to them? How will they see and find themselves, if we’re so busy taking care of them and not tending to ourselves?
When we step back and pause to reflect on our self-care, instead of thinking of it as a selfish act, instead consider the notion that it is an act of love. It’s love towards ourselves and therefore, it becomes what we reflect onto others in our relationships with them.
Jeanette Bronée is a certified feng shui consultant as well as a food and nourishment consultant, board certified with the AADP as a holistic health counselor from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. She developed and teaches the Path for Life self-nourishment system in private consulting sessions, group lectures, and corporate workshops. Jeanette’s passion is showing her clients how to live in rhythm with one's own nature and be in healthy charge of our wellness She believes we can bring more healing into our lives when we are empowered with the knowledge and the tools to do so. Visit Path for Life to learn more.