Day 4: Peace through SELF-CARE

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LESSON #4: SELF-NEGLECT = STRESS & SELF-CARE = PEACE

SELF-NEGLECT causes STRESS:

Another huge way you feed your stress is by neglecting self-care, aka. not honoring your needs and personal boundaries.

I was on the phone with a client a while back, and we were discussing her stress and anxiety. One major way stress was showing up for her, was by her snapping at employees. As we dug deeper, we uncovered a lot of boundary and self-care neglect going on that was causing her stress, and to snap at employees.

Examples of self-neglect and boundary issues that will feed your stress:

  • overcommitting yourself
  • lax boundaries with others
  • not enough sleep
  • not enough mental rest (aka. meditation)
  • not enough physical activity
  • poor eating and water drinking habits
  • overconsumption of mind-altering substances (coffee, alcohol, etc.)

SELF-CARE creates PEACE:

Stress caused by self-neglect is healed through SELF-CARE. The tricky thing is, there's no one size fits all self-care protocol. There are general guidelines, but everyone's stress-point around sleep, diet, boundaries, etc. will be different.

I tend to be extremely sensitive so my threshold for self-neglect is very low. Which means it doesn't take much to push me out of balance (in any of those categories above) to a point where my health, work, and relationships begin to suffer.

Some of you may have a higher threshold for self-neglect, where you can get away with less self-care and still operate at a level you're happy with. But either way it's important to to know and honor your personal boundaries.

Peace through self-care comes when you can:

  • figure out the point at which YOU get imbalanced and experience stress (in each of the categories I mentioned above), and
  • be diligent about honoring those boundaries! (this could be saying no to things; asking for help; hiring help; creating better habits around diet, exercise, sleep, and meditation; etc.)
Quote- if you crave more peace, self-care....jpg

TAKE ACTION:

  1. STOP feeding your STRESS HABIT: Begin to notice when you reach a self-care boundary (in each category above). {hint: some symptom of mental/emotional stress will be the trigger. If you get to a point where a physical symptom presents, then you're likely waaaay over your self-care boundary.}

  2. START feeding your PEACE HABIT: In most cases you neglect self-care because you don't respect how important it truly is in your life, or you don't feel worthy of it. Either way, you've got to start giving yourself permission to take time for whatever self-care you need for peace.

    • Do an honest check-in with yourself on your level of self-care. Go through each of the categories above ask yourself, does my lack of self care here cause me stress symptoms?

      • "PERMISSION MEDITATION" (7 minutes): If you find that you neglect self-care a lot in your life, do this guided visualization to help you prioritize it.

Peace, love, and a consistent practice,

Dana

P.S. You can access all past days here. Password: "PEACE" (all caps).

P.P.S. To connect with others going through this 5 day experience + to get your questions answered by me, join the "Meditate with Ease" Facebook group here!

P.P.P.S Don't forget to book your free 1:1 session here. I look forward to supporting you!