This week’s program focused on self-care.  Yes,yes, it’s all about me.  The point being, and most of us know this, if you don’t take care of yourself first how can you take care of others.  I know as a mother who worked full-time I would often push my self-care to the back burner in favor of getting to work and accomplishing the goals that I had set for myself there.

The key to Self-care for me is to WALK.  I was a runner until my mid-30’s when I wasn’t able to run anymore so then I took up walking.  I have walked all over Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Quebec.  I still walk here in South Carolina almost every day.  When my grandson was small, my daughter and I walked in the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day event which was a 60 mile trip from Framingham, MA to Prudential Center in Boston.  A most miserable weekend I have never had with rain, sleet, snow and blowing wind.  We wore garbage bags to keep us dry and we discovered that styrofoam cups make great mittens.  Just try and picture it.  We kept saying to each other, it’s nothing compared to what our friends had and were going through with their treatments.  We were two of the 400 or so who actually finished out of over 4000 who registered.  Many dropped out on Day 2 because of the weather and frankly, I don’t blame them.  We slogged on and made it.  The best part of the whole thing was the training.  We did anywhere from six miles a day to 12-15 miles on the weekends.  Yes, we were fit and so were the dogs and I loved it.  The grandson got to ride in a stroller as he was too young to walk with us.

I think that I am blessed that I discovered walking.  It is my meditation time, it is my outdoor time, it is my exercise and sometimes my social time.  It is something I can do until I am in my 90’s and maybe beyond.  My mother still walks and she is 90.  It is a huge part of my self-care routine and is so ingrained that I get cabin fever if I don’t get outside to walk regularly.  I love to walk with my brother and my sister up and over the hills of our home in Canada.  I love to walk with my daughters and my husband.  And recently, I have walked with my grandchildren and there is no greater pleasure.  I hope others have a similar component to their lives.

We learned about Bio-Individuality – one person’s food is another person’s poison.  We learned about Fitting Out and Self-Trust.  We learned about the process of mind over matter – Believe, Support, Intuition, Diagnose, and the Whole Health Cairn from Dr. Lissa Rankin.

This week we learned about detox baths with epsom salts and lavender, oil-pulling (I had absolutely no idea), sleeping with a hot water bottle to warm your inner core, massages (yes they are great), to take one step at a time.  We learned to ask for and accept help and that Perfectionism is not required it is prohibited.  Perfectionism is a form of negative self-care.  Who knew?

I loved Kathleen Graham who spoke to us about Sacred Discipline.  I always thought being disciplined meant rigid.  Not so, it means in her terms, being a disciple of yourself in whatever you are creating.  Love that explanation.

One of my favorite lectures was by Marilena Minucci, MS. who said “Self-care is now part of your job description”.  I want self-care to be the cornerstone of my coaching.  Also, the one thing I have strived for my whole adult life has been to have my personal life and my professional life blended.  No more balancing act.  Now we are asked, “What kind of coach do you want to be?”  Today I don’t know the answer but I do know that I am on the right path and it is leading me where I need to go. so …..

For today, January 31st, it is appropriate that Louise Hay’s I Can Do It 2015 Calendar says “Love is the miracle cure.  Loving myself works miracles in my life.”  What a wonderful thought for a perfect January day.