Stop Skipping Self-Care - Day 256 of 365 Days to a Better You

You're busy. You're tough. You'll just make it through the day on grit. You'll put your family's needs, your friends needs, your company's needs before yours.All of these are noble and needed sometimes. Sacrifice of your selfish ends for the greater good makes you the special person you are.Here's the rub. When you do that day after day, month after month, year after year; you lose perspective on the unequivocal fact that you're only as good to others as you are to you.You've got to stop skipping self-care and you've got to do it for yourself and for all those other people who rely on you. Some of these, honestly, I need to get better at too.Here are some things you should take the time or make the time to do every morning to ready yourself for the day, for the service you render to others, for your goals and dreams.

1. Gratitude- Wake up and say, "Thank you. Thank you for another day and another chance." The late great Wayne Dyer commented many times on how he made this his first order of business each day. Begin in gratitude.
2. Conscious showers - have e er taken a shower and gotten out only to realize you didn't feel the drops because your mind had skipped ahead to your to-do list, your worries, or reliving the past? Your shower is one of your most personal and sacred times each day to be there for you or as Ram Das said, "Be here now." Be conscious, feel each drop, relish in the experience. Be thankful that you have warm running water. Make it a few moments of your day you look forward to.
3. Ready the body - take a walk, do some light exercise, stretch and prepare your body for the day.
4. Ready the mind - pray, meditate, or say your affirmations. Set the mental tone for your day before your day sets it for you. You choose how you begin.
5. Concretize it - journal your goals for the day or your goals for your life, blog, or make a video. Get your thoughts out of your head and put into the world. It's the first step in realizing them.
6. Feed the body - have a good breakfast. Take your vitamins. Take your meds. Give the body the fuel and nutrition it needs to get started and (yes, this means you, Ray) don't skip meds, if you require them.
7. Personal care - even if you're not meeting the world right away, do your personal care routine just for you.
8. Feed the mind- Listen to music or radio that inspires or fires you up. Watch a video. Read a blog or a book. Learn something. Take in some new information. Keep your mind expanding.
9. Set the mood - whether you drive for a living, drive to an office or a worksite, or you work at home, do all you can to set a comfortable and inspiring environment for yourself. Place things that inspire you where you can see them.

It might seem like all of this will take too much time. By making the time for you a priority, you actually create a You with more to give than ever before.Do you! Everyone else, as Oscar Wilde said, is taken.RayWebsite | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Support Us