Self-care takes place in mind, body, and spirit. Your self-care program should include practices in all three areas.
Take care of your mind:
Your mind is the way that you connect to the world. Your ability to think, to feel, to act, to behave, to have an opinion, to make a judgment, all comes from your mind. Mental self-care changes when you are in recovery. For many people, turning to drugs, alcohol, and self-defeating behaviors which cause more mental distress than actual mental self-care. You can take care of your mind every day by helping to heal your brain, the tissue in which the many chemical reactions take place to make your mind, your mind. Mindfulness and meditation are practices proven to reduce stress and change the structure of the brain, helping it heal. Working with a therapist can help reduce mental distress as well, which takes care of the mind. Practicing self-regulation, regulating your emotions, and making peace with your thoughts is also mental self-care. Sometimes, however, not doing anything for your mental self-care is self-care in itself. Watching a movie, indulging in a TV show, and other healthy ways of “tuning out” can be self-care, for short periods of time.
Take care of your body:
Physical self-care is a little different for everybody because every body is different. Some bodies can endure running and hard core sports. Other bodies are fragile and need gentle practices like yoga. Physical exercise is a requirement for any mental health recovery. A minimum of 20 minutes of exercise a day can greatly improve your mood and your health. Physical self-care doesn’t just have to include exercise. Exercise can come with recovery. Sore muscles need to be tended after. Recovery from mental health can leave you feeling sore in a deep way. Your physical self-care might include body caring like massages, acupuncture, chiropractic work or other forms of holistic care. Taking care of your physical form might include your daily hygiene, using a favorite body product, or taking a trip to the spa. Every day you can take care of your physical self.
Take care of your soul:
Thankfully, it turns out that many of the things you would do to take care of your mind and your body are things that are going to help your soul as well. Spiritual practices like meditation and mindfulness help your body as well as your mind, while they also heal the soul. Taking care of your soul during self-care is a practice only you can determine for yourself. Your soul comes alive in a way that is unique to who you are, because your soul and your spirit is unique. Some people come alive through religion. Others come alive through spending time in nature. Some people feel their soul come alive by interacting with animals. Others feel their spirit come alive by interacting with other people through volunteering. Our soul-work when it comes to self-care needs to include doing the things that connect us to the world outside of ourselves. By creating a greater world, we don’t feel as trapped in the small worlds of our naturally self-centered minds. We detach from our feelings and sink into our experiences, helping us realize we are more than our thoughts.
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