Self-Care Tuesday- Grounding Ourselves

As we begin our first Self-Care Tuesday at UCASA, let's talk a little about why self-care is so important.

In all of our jobs, our primary responsibility is to take care of ourselves.  This may seem unrealistic or an over-simplification of being our authentic selves.  However with our demanding schedules and workloads, no matter how rewarding the work can be, if we are not in the right mindset we cannot perform our duties to their fullest.

What can we do about this? The first step to beginning any self care program is to evaluate where you are NOW and what do you need to feel balanced?

Finding Balance

More often than not, we learn more about something by coming to understand its opposite.  Such is the way with something like balance.  Popular culture would have us believe that everyone can obtain this level of inner peace: where we can handle everything, complete our list of things to do everyday, make dinner, clean the house, negotiate world peace, and of course, finally get rid of our ill-fitting office chairs as we have mastered the art of levitation.  But back in reality, this is completely impossible. (However if you have managed to complete the above list you need to share how you did it with me.)

When we think of balance, we should be thinking of a set of scales.  On one side is all of our reactions to things outside of ourselves (job, family, life, etc) and on the other side our own reactions and feelings (how we react to stress, self-esteem, general emotional state, etc.).  True balance is found when we master how to keep our scales level.  And we must remember that if we feel balanced one day, the next day things could be drastically different.  Does this mean that we have failed in being balanced?  No.  It means that you are human.


Checking in with Yourself

Evaluating our level of balance has to be done on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis. What do your scales look like today?   Looking at the entire picture of the day ahead of us can sometimes be overwhelming.  Start evaluating by sorting items into more manageable sections by asking yourself a few questions. Why am I doing what I'm doing?  Is this working for me?  What do I absolutely have to finish today? What can I leave for tomorrow? What can I do for down time? How am I feeling today emotionally and stress-wise?

Checking in with ourselves requires that we also meet ourselves with gentleness.  We need to be able to give ourselves permission to be kind to ourselves, to declare our own boundaries and defend them.  We need to give ourselves the space to be able to say "no", to say "yes" and to be ok with standing by what we have said.  We also need to be able to give ourselves permission to let whatever we accomplish today be enough.

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
Euripides
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/balance.html#gL9smgtzZftaPIXp.99

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
Euripides
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/balance.html#gL9smgtzZftaPIXp.9

Grounding Exercise

Sit up straight in a chair.  You'll want to have both feet firmly on the ground, your back straight, and your hands on your upper thighs.  Focus in on your breath.  Inhale through your nose, letting the air fill in through your belly and then up into your chest.  As you exhale, release the air from your chest first and then from your belly.  Breathing this way you will be able to feel your breath expand your chest cavity. Also by focusing on bringing in air from your belly up to your chest and back down again, it will also feel like that expansion is traveling up and down your spine.  Focus on the sound of your breath and the firmness of the ground beneath your feet, of your body against the chair. 

When we are stressed, we inadvertently hold our breath.  Without breathing, our body's natural response is to panic- wanting that next breath.  The more we panic, the more intense our feelings of stress.  Taking anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes to focus just on breathing can do wonders in grounding and checking in with ourselves.  Focused breathing automatically calms our nervous system and allows us to be able to reset, refocus, and take charge of our day.