Is self care selfish? Certainly not when it is something that gives you the energy and resources to be there for the people in your life. Self-care can be anything that helps you manage your stress and promote your own whole health and well-being. This includes your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual self.
The eight components of the Circle of Health offer a glimpse of the areas of your life where you can practice caring for your self. What can you do to take care of yourself? Start with these ideas:
- Fuel your body with healthy nutrition and drink water to stay hydrated (Food & Drink).
- Get enough sleep so your body can recover and restore (Recharge).
- Move your body by walking, doing a workout or outdoor activity that you enjoy (Moving the Body).
- Take time to slow down by reading, praying, connecting spiritually (Spirit & Soul).
- Practice gratitude, be mindful, meditate, and just breathe (Power of the Mind).
- Learn something new (Personal Development).
- Spend some time in nature or create a more healing environment by decluttering one of your living spaces (Surroundings).
- Make time for the people you love (Family, Friends and Co-workers).
Self care is not selfish, and it should be a daily practice. When you have a healthy routine, you can better care for others (spouse, children, patients, etc.). When you do self care, you model it to those others. We encourage you to develop your own daily self care action plan.
Click here to take a brief self-assessment in the whole health circle: https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/tools/the-circle-of-health-a-brief-self-assessment.asp.
Take five minutes right now to practice self care with this Grounding Meditation with Christiane Wolf, MD, Ph.D.
Meditation is a practice or technique that primarily focuses on training attention-regulation processes. That is, it’s a practice that trains you to focus, to concentrate, to cultivate mental well-being. It is one of the complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches within the VA Whole Health System of care.
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I found the Grounding Meditation ideal for me, so helpful in making improvements to my health condition; also the Health Circle made me realize just now how am I doing relative to my interactions with family members, friends and/or relatives living near or far away, keeping in mind that my present life situation was affected immensely by incidents beyond my control in the past – my upbringing during childhood; and, my marriage and all the things that affected it when I served in the military with 15 years spent at sea; but aside from the one unfortunate event, I managed to receive four Good Conduct awards during my 20 years of military service.