In Care of One's Self

It is very easy to get lost behind appointments and engagements, behind caffeine and sleeping aids, behind power workouts and a made up exterior. It's easy to get lost behind so very much to do, that we forget to care for ourselves and end up hiding from the truth of what it does to us.

None of the longest living people in the world deal with this stress at all. Their normal everyday routines incorporate time for walking, time for laughing, time for fratenizing with friends, time for calm and restful sleep. The rest of us - well, it's an ongoing effort to find the balance between responsibility in family, work and community, and time for ourselves.

Because the effects aren't really hidden. We might think we can stave off tiredness with another cup of coffee, we might think we can use cover-up to cover up what is real in our faces, we might think we can hide what is going on behind what we choose to show the world, but our truth is always apparent. Our truth is always apparent.

Step up today and acknowledge not just who you are but how you are too. If you are tired, give your mind and body the rest is craves. If you are overwhlemed, find the place of peace. If you are stressed, find your breath and breathe it out.

Because - your truth is always apparent. You think others don't know? They know; they know because we wear our truth. If our exterior is a facade, the fakeness of it will penetrate the psyches of those we interact with. Just be real in the first place. Don't you deserve it?

So you don't like the way things are, you don't like, say, being tired all the time, but denial is not an effective tool of change. You can't change your tiredness by ignoring it, or pretending it doesn't exist, or painting over those dark rings under your eyes. Be it, acknowledge it, and you become free to change it. Maybe you'll just get sick to death of being tired all the time and start taking steps to change it, or maybe you'll change your schedule, or maybe you'll stop eating sugar, or maybe you'll do whatever it takes to get un-tired. Don't waste your time and your precious life denying yourself the care you deserve. When you safely have the oxygen mask over your face first, you then become available to help others. You can participate in the rest of life so much more fully. Life becomes an expression of joy, rather than frustration or anger at the circumstances. You become empowered to make of your life what you want.

Now that's sweet.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop