How Self-Care and Personal Practices Can Help Anchor Your Day

A note from Shelly: Kassandra Brown and I found each other on the internet and instantly felt well aligned and connected. Rather than taking a “competition” approach, we’ve decided to help and support one another’s success. I think you’ll enjoy her guest post as much as I did. Excellent reminders to slow down and remember to take care of ourselves in the midst of our busy, service oriented lives.

Guest post by Kassandra Brown

Shhh – everyone is sleeping and now it’s time for you. What do you do with your alone time?

I can help you find the best ways to connect with yourself and ways to make time for that connection.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

1) A morning practice: Meditation, journaling, yoga, tai-chi. I suggest activities that are simple enough for you to remember without prompting so you can do them alone (no DVD or YouTube teachers).

Exercise: take 10 min for yourself every morning before the rest of the house is awake. If other people wake up without you, then take some extra minutes before you go greet them to do your own practice.

2) Creative time: sing, draw, paint, sculpt, dance, write poetry. Let it be messy. Let it be easy. Let yourself create with no goal of having it be anything other than your creative expression in this moment.

Exercise: Turn on music you love. Sit with a blank sheet of paper and let yourself flow. You might draw or write. You might get up and dance.

3) Pampering: a long bath, a massage, rubbing yourself with oil, self-pleasuring. Take time to feel sensual in your own body.

Exercise: Walk naked outside. If you can’t do that, be naked in your own home, open a window and feel the sun and the air on your skin. Rub yourself with massage oil.

4) Take off your shoes: The feel of the ground on my naked feet – cold, hot, hard, soft, wet, oozy – is such a blessing. The earth will absorb extra, frenetic energy and leave you feeling more relaxed and clear headed. The earth can also feed you energy which is often more rooted and solid than the buzzy energy we get from caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants.

Exercise: Try walking barefoot on the earth for 10-30 min anytime you feel low, disconnected, or restless.

5) Connect with a friend: Take time to really check in with each other. Ask “How are you doing?” and mean it. If you’re not sure how to do this, try PIES. You can tell your friend how you are doing physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. And you can ask about each of these areas too.

Exercise: call 3 friends and ask them if they’d like to have a ‘check in date’ once each week. If all 3 say yes, great. You now have 3 anchor points in your week. If one says yes, great that’s probably a more manageable time commitment. Ask for help if you need support structuring a check in date to make it fair and manageable.

It is really important to take time to anchor your day, to anchor into yourself, to find your ground. Finding your own way into yourself through creation of personal practices that really feed you is a big part of what I can help you do through parent coaching.

What practices help you in your day? How do you connect with your true self? Please share your insights and your questions with us!

Kassandra Brown is a parent coach who says “I am so lucky to do this work! I love hearing the difference in parent’s voices when they go from feeling tired and helpless to empowered and insightful.” She coaches via phone or Skype and would be delighted to consult with you today. You can find her at www.parentcoaching.org Contact Kassandra today for more insight into ways to anchor your day!