Monday, January 02, 2006

Simple, comforting acts

Often I allow myself to become so ennervated and ungrounded that I won't take even a small step to help myself feel better. I want to become aware of small comforts. So I just made myself a cup of ginger tea with honey and echinacea to help heal the head cold that arrived last night. What other small actions might I take when I'm feeling overwhelmed or scattered?

  • Make a cup of herbal tea.
  • Lie down in corpse pose with my legs propped at 90 degrees on a chair and my body covered with a blanket.
  • Breathe.
  • Walk around the block without the dog.
  • Cuddle with the dog and tune into his energy.
  • Clean one thing.
  • Go to bed early.

What do you do?

I've begun reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's book, Simple Abundance, which is a daybook for one year. I've also started keeping a gratitude journal - five things every evening. Breathnach suggests that we become "curators of our own contentment," which I find a delicious phrase and a worthy project for the new year.

3 comments:

jo(e) said...

I do reiki on my self.

Put essential oils on my palms.

Take a walk in the woods.

Call a friend on the telephone.

Build a fire in the fireplace.

Sit with one of my cats on my lap.

Write in my journal.

Take a nap.

Take a shower.

Read parts of old favorite books.

Clean the top of my desk.

Do a pastel.

Make myself hot tea or a snack.

Put music on and dance.

Turtleheart said...

I have Simple Abundance-- I thought it was a great book. I will have to pull it out again. ;-)

I don't have a good list of things I do for myself. Its something I need work on. Cuddling the cats is one thing that comes to mind. I really need to work on this...

So good to see you posting again Inanna! I have missed you!

Athana said...

I pop the dog into the car and we take a long ride out into the country. I try to find someplace to stop where the dog can run free and I can just space out, out there. Someplace we haven't been before.