back to basics

Simple, right? Don’t underestimate the importance of lovingly meeting your most basic needs. The degree to which you regard taking care of yourself impacts absolutely everything.

eat: Food is the fuel creating the energy for all that you do in life. How much priority do you give to consuming healthy, whole foods at intervals that meet your body’s true needs? If you see room for improvement in this caretaking, consider and challenge the competing distractions that you are treating as more valuable than your physical health.

sleep: Rest and reprieve are some of the greatest casualties of over-scheduled lives and 24/7 television and internet availability. While being available to everything and everyone virtually all the time has become normative socially, you can and ought to intentionally shift away from these unspoken assumptions. Reclaim time in your day to provide enough opportunities for quiet, rest, and restoration of yourself.

breathe: Literally and figuratively. Literally in that when you are stressed and anxious the first thing you do is restrict your breathing, and deep breathing is the fastest way to calm the system. Figuratively in terms of taking pause to center yourself, collect your thoughts, and anchor yourself in the present.

Whenever you find yourself depleted, scared, anxious, stressed, overwhelmed… take an inventory of these needs. Adjustments to one or more can nearly instantly change your experience and perspective(s).