7 Reasons to Practice Self-Care

I’ve written here about how important self-care is for mothers. All day we give ourselves to our family, but many of us feel guilty for taking time for ourselves. In February, I set my minimum requirements for self-care. I think I’m doing pretty well, except for the 7 hours of sleep each night.

Today, I have a guest post from Renee Peterson Trudeau, life balance teacher/speaker, on why she practices self-care. She’s also the author Nurturing the Soul of Your Family (click to read my review) and The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal, both of which I love (click on the title for my review of the books).

Make sure you read to the end so you can enter to win a Self-Renewal Package from Renee. Plus learn how you can win Year-of-Self-Care Mother’s Day Giveaway, including an all expenses paid trip to Renee Trudeau and Deborah Kern’s Putting Yourself First: The Ultimate Self-Care Retreat for Women at Omega Institute.

7 Reasons to Practice Self-Care

by Renee Trudeau

This past week I connected with several medical professionals and we discussed the concept of self-care. Like many in healthcare, they see self-care as something you “should do” for your physical health (exercise, eat well, get enough sleep), but that’s where it ends. They were curious when I shared that I define self-care as the art of attuning and responding to your needs and desires, moment to moment.You could see the wheels turning as they sat with my definition.

Pick up an onion and hold it in your palm. For me, self-care would be the outer layer, then a few layers deeper, you’ll find self-acceptance (as you learn to accept yourself warts and all), then self-compassion, and then a few layers beyond that you arrive at the holy grail: self-love. I see self-care as the first doorway we go through to begin to truly accept who we are, and ultimately, to begin to love ourselves.

What does self-care mean to you? Some of my workshop attendees have said: self-care means practicing self-forgiveness; releasing guilt and believing I deserve to have my needs met; learning to cultivate self-compassion; breathing and listening to my body; remembering to laugh and find joy in everyday life; connecting with and expressing my authentic self; being fully “me” (not who others want me to be) and sometimes it’s moving mountains to get bed by 9:30 p.m.!

The art and practice of self-care has been central to my work-life balance programs since 1999 and it has had a profound and lasting change on how I live. I wish my son (who is in his first year of middle school) could take Self-Care 101 where he would learn the art and science of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual self-care–along with Pre-Algebra and Creative Writing! Can you imagine a world where everyone–both adolescents and adults–interacted from a full-cup rather than an empty one?

There are many, many benefits to making self-renewal a priority (read more). For me, practicing self-care (and ultimately learning to embrace self-acceptance and self-love) has helped me to:

• be more easy-going and to learn to “go with the flow”
• see that little things stay little (my son not picking up his dirty socks) and don’t become front page news
• have more space around my thoughts and become more present (more responsive, less reactive)
• be kinder and more compassionate (whether it’s with a waitress, family member or business partner)
• connect more deeply to the sacred and the spiritual aspects of every day life
• react less and Live Inside Out more (read more)
• sense my connection to everything around me and how interwoven we all are

But most importantly, this practice has helped me know that even when everything and everyone around me seems to be falling apart, I can still feel ok on the inside. And ultimately, this underlying, unwavering sense of peace and well-being is what we’re all seeking, isn’t it?

Want more life balance tips from Renee? Make sure you visit her website for tips, e-courses and retreats.

GIVEAWAY: Thanks to Renee Trudeau, one blog reader will win a Self-Renewal Package which includes:

• a copy of the beautifully illustrated, award winning books, The Mother‘s Guide to Self-Renewal or Nurturing the Soul of the Family
• free registration to the Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal Online Telecourse (a $125 total value) from nationally recognized life balance teacher, Renee Peterson Trudeau and Hopeful World Publishing.
• Additionally you’ll be entered to win the $2700 Year-of-Self-Care Mother’s Day Giveaway.

This giveaway is open internationally. If the winner lives outside the United States, then they’ll receive an e-book version of the book. Even if you don’t win the Self-Renewal Package, you can still enter to win Year-of-Self-Care Mother’s Day Giveaway (click for more details).

For a chance to win the Self-Renewal Package, use the rafflecopter form below:
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