Self-Care Tip #145 – Think about what you’re wanting and waiting for, and then think about what you have. Be a friend to yourself.
Today my husband told me that it is the season of Epiphany – the climax to our waiting and wanting (or Advent) is celebrating when we find out that God became a human.
I like epiphany’s. Who doesn’t? At dinner we talked it over with the kids. We asked them questions like, “What do you remember from last year that you’re glad about?” “Did you learn anything that you want to remember in this new year?” My three-year-old was glad our house isn’t destroyed yet by the rain. (Yes. It is raining again. Blah. The basement should be filled in with dirt!)
Then, my epiphany came. Self-care includes being grateful for what and whom we already have in our lives. Ta-da! May not seem like much but it hit me strong and soulful. I have names, including yours on my list.
Self-care for me today was stopping on the bits of life I already have, the people I already know, the gratefuls I don’t habitually spend enough spirit on (generally all of them.) I get poetic and lumpy thinking about it. My epiphanies feel like soppy insides, doe-y eyes, choking up over the smell of my husband’s neck, the mysteries of time and such. Epiphanies generally don’t come without a waiting and a wanting. It can all be deliberate, which is good news too, because those of us who don’t do that unconsciously have a chance.
As said by Fred Clark, Author of blog “Slacktivist,”
Epiphanies don’t seem like the sort of thing one can schedule ahead of time and plan for.
It isn’t as romantic as I hear it was for Edison, but we can plan. Waiting, wanting, and the ah-ha’s can be deliberate and are part of self-care.
Question: In this season, what are your epiphanies?
Related Articles
- Lament, Celebrate, Negotiate to Take Care of Yourself (friendtoyourself.com)
- Epiphany: One of us (slacktivist.typepad.com)
In this season I won’t know re Clark’s statement. But perhaps some will manifest when I write a gratitude list.
a little buried in the ruble of your condo-situation I imagine. strength to you, Carl!
Yes, that situation keeps me as taut as that inner spring can get. But to remain clean and sober keeps me at my optimum ability to meet the challenges and adapt to survive and unlike so many others here in South Florida I have my pension which is an income and first on that gratitude list. PS Don’t ever buy a condo.
taut is such a great word. i’m glad u dusted it off. it did perfectly for your purposes. thank u for linking your struggles coping w “THE CONDO” (echo echo echo) situation to your h/o coping w/o sobriety. i am so glad for you.
p.s. check. no condo. got it.
Family and things to do with family always and every year, but one of my greatest Epiphanies this year was a business card that was produced on a search for zebras. 🙂
cool! scan it and show us?
Nah. Suffice it to say, I’m glad I fell into your blog site. :-}
oh my word. i’m slooooooowwwww! i was trying to figure that out. read it twice and it stilllll didn’t hit me till now! laughing.
I wondered! Laughing, too…with you, of course!
of course 😉
Epiphanies, I don’t know. But, yes, we should think about what we have and not what we don’t. When I get stressed about certain things, I try to thank God about everything good I have, and I feel better. I realize that I have everything I need, plus more. Is that an epiphany?
it qualifies. i just checked the manual :). keep on duck-person.