Questions:  How do we collaborate with our patients, or with our clinicians, to take action on behalf of health?  What can we as clinicians or patients do to teach, learn and practice the tenets of the field of self-care?

Self-care is living consistently with the belief that the success of our health (emotional, physical, spiritual) begins and ends, not with “me,” but with “Me.” To teach and practice self-care comes when we understand that the essential self, the Me, is always worth fighting for, always worth the journey, always of value even in the throes of mental illness.  Here at FriendtoYourself.com, we work to define and teach self-care daily, we attack guilt, we stand up to shame, we live as we choose despite stigma and we work harder than we ever have on perhaps the hardest job of our lives.  Self-care is not weak but rather courageous.  It brings us to humble accountability for our lives, not seeking to erase our history but still reminding us that we are free to start over any time.

I will be writing a series of blog-posts outlining self-care in which we will examine the tenets of self-care: self-knowledge, presence, moral neutrality, and connection. We will look at self-care as an essential practice for both clinician and patient, examining the ways in which a self-caring clinician may, in turn, provide better care to her patients, and patients take better care of themselves.

Self-Care Tip #260 – Clarify what it means to be your own friend.

By the way, check out a still unknown glorious writer at ASkirtAWeek.com.

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