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Self-Care Tip #199 – Bring together what you are naturally inclined to do with what you spend your energies on.
When we do what we like to do, what is congruent with our hard-wiring, what is naturally inspiring, fatigue becomes part of our pleasure in my life. Cliché,
Enjoy the burn,
…is common for a reason. There are times when pain, fatigue, difficulty and hard-surfaced days are bits of what make life journey one of richness, rather than diminished. I was reminded by Jaclyn Rae’s Blog-post today, that when we can say,
I’ve learned that I’m tired but still want to do what I do,
…we are paddling the same river our life is floating down. When we by mental illness, misfortune, choice or neglect, don’t – we are more observant of our lives rather than participants to them. We find being present in the process difficult. It’s not something everyone can do in all aspects.
However, we don’t have to be defined by those particulars, choosing instead to do the hard work of processing our choices, our energy and where it comes from, our emotions and see how they weave into our constitution. Then, some time when breathing hard, limping and spent, we will remember this and reconnect the experience with the choice and the emotion a little quicker. We will less often separate from the water our life is traveling. Not become observers but participate more often, more actively, more tangibly with that kernel in us that stays, our essence. (See blog post, My Essence.)
In the marvelous work, “His Dark Materials” trilogy, Philip Pullman describes us as split persons, a body and a spirit (“demon”) that might be parted by neglect, carelessness, abuse, or other disasters. But when it is separated, the body suffers and is disconnected from it’s life purpose, what brings pleasure and presence in the world around. (See blog post, Soul and Body.)
There are medical illnesses that do this, as mentioned above, and in those cases, perhaps all to do is get medical care, heal, treat and get on with life. Other times, it might be that we forgot ourselves in the midst of caring for children, a demanding job, an opinion that victim-hood defines our life possibilities or what not. We have options.
As Jjen reminded us some days ago,
The bad doesn’t disappear but it is not a qualifier for the rest of life’s potential.
Questions: How have you reconnected to your life journey? Your essence? What is constant about you in your changing self? Please tell me your story.
Related Articles
- Pain Doesn’t Define Life’s Potential (friendtoyourself.com)
- Runecast for 3/6 (witchesofthecraft.wordpress.com)
- Forgiveness is Miraculous (psychologytoday.com)
It is a bizarre irony that in order to get connected I had to first get disconnected. Disconnected from substance abuse. Free of the accompanying distortions and behaviors of the addict I started to return to being the uncontaminated me. Positive mental health practices also helped.The second irony is that once disconnected I had to be reconnected. Not with my self but by being connected to the availability of the Holy Spirit to connect with me and I to it. To be connected with ourselves gives a wholeness but I cannot be whole without the connection to the outside and beyond, the external which becomes internalized and liberating enabling me to evolve into who and what I was meant to be guided my the magnetism and infusion of the Holy Spirit.
yes! i hear u and know something of what u speak. how will we be, who will we be, after 2nd coming when these dichotomous things that make us so interesting are pointing in the same direction of our lives?
I am BA, MA Theology. So here goes. I have come to believe that the Second Coming is not an event in the future. I think it is a repeating cycle. Everytime an addict recovers and becomes a social worker, Christ has come again. Every time a child is babtized and the parents declare that the child will be raised in Christ, Jesus has come again. Every time a person walks to that pulpit at a revival to accept Christ as his Savior, Jesus has come again. Every time the nations avoid war and settle in peace He has come again. Everytime one is spiritually healed…..
Rob Bell would luv u, n visa-vu. I enjoy listening to his free podcasts i download on i-tunes. bless.
Knowing how to detach while being attached is difficult…trying to live in essence and not be ruled by ego, a minute by minute process.
your remark flowed so well. many thanks suzi.
kevin has extreme problems and at the the moment i am stuck in a corner the dole over here the people who make us work or goverment they are being big bullys they are going to force me to sit in a room for 13 weeks with people i cant do it 3 people is about my max then i will flip so they have pushed me in this corner it is one of my biggest chalenges yet or and they really dont care i have BPD unlike the university i have till next monday to sort this i have my theropist on thursday he might be able to write in for me and get me out of this i have allso contacted local goverment to see if my first gripe is fair but as yet have not replyed when i am forced into a corner where i dont want to do something i will act and this is what i fear the most i fear myslef currently i am using all the things that i have learned that are helping a bit i see trouble over the hills its a bit ike BPD V the country and the bigger picture me v the uk i will not back down and i will not put myself at the merci of th goverment
yikes. u sound scared kevin. u r not alone. big virtual hug from us all. keep us posted.
well im out of my self destruct mode for the time being hmm i had to really think back and kinda take in what is going on well my action takeing ods is not going to get rid of how i am feeling about the situwation its going to make it worse im off to citizens advice tomoro and kinda see where i stand on what the goverment is doing see if they can make some light out of it then i have a kinda ace card to pull if that falls threw i will have 14 weeks paid to try my own business the stuff i have learnt on the web over the last year will help me in my own business on the web i have somwonw who wants to put money into an idear anyway ive allso spoke to my best friend over in amble and she siad she thought that the job centre were not doing there care bit and she siad i was worth more than oding again so for the time being i am seeing a little light i was tihnking of doing a protest down in whitehall but i decided against it if goverment would look at barriers stopping us working insted of saying everyone should work this would really help im sure im not the only person in the uk who thinks like that ive also put in to see a disabilty advisor at the job centre
fantastic to hear kevin. i’m getting the sense that those negative urges/(“self-destruct mode”) are not lasting as long as they used to and not feeling as strong as they used to. That’s pretty huge. you’re sounding forward. thanks for the update. keep on talking. we r here.
I do believe life is like a bunch of stepping stones with alot of them broken going in all directions and alot of times at least I always step on the wrong one or head down the wrong path…not intentionally, but I do try to do with a purpose trying to remind myself we are who we are for the choices we make and do not take. And at the end of the day/week/month or year that I’ve learned from my choices and that I am one step closer to finding what makes me happy.
hey carrie! thanks for reading and commenting! here u r, despite your overextended self, fighting to do your hardest work of self-care. your voice here travels. we r less alone because u came. keep stepping.