A Spiritual Side to Self Care!

There are three aspects of self-care.... Mind, body, and spirit. Our first go-tos for self-care are usually mind and body. I think many of us think that our spirituality, and spiritual self-care is just reserved for Sunday, or whatever day you observe your Sabbath or ritual times in what form of spirituality you follow or practice. For me, it is something that I need to practice every day, because the aspects of self-care build on each other. When we leave one of the aspects out of our self-care there is imbalance. 

And we start to feel like this.... it ain't pretty.

I'm writing about this today because I too have let this aspect of my self-care slide. I am a Christian, I attend church, I even lead a women's group. That is just what I believe and how I worship with my community. For me, there has to be more... study, prayer, action and fellowship. The fellowship, some of the study, prayer,  and part of action I fulfill when I attend church and church activities. Being the spiritual person that I am I also have study and prayer time at home for personal spiritual growth.

One of the things that I include in part of my study is journaling. Below is a little list put together by  to start you off on a little project of your own... a spiritual journal.

 Prompts for Spiritual Journaling

• This week I was blessed by
• My favorite passage of spiritual reading is
• The area where I need to put more trust in my higher power in
• A life lesson I learned today
• I feel most in my higher power's presence when....
• My calling in life is...
• My spiritual gifts are...
• What brings me the most joy in my life...
• An area of my life where I need more spiritual guidance is...

These are just a few ideas. Also, this week Michael's has a sale on all their Faith Journals @ 60% off! through Saturday.... or until they're all gone. 

At the beginning of this year I wrote a four part series on sacred spaces, a quiet place of your own to practice your spirituality, self-care, or just a hide out from the insanity of this world. I try to have a set time for prayer and study in my daily life. Whether it be something that is being facilitated at my place of worship, or a study that I have been working on through a book or website, I have found it to be a necessity to find a quiet place to do so. Although it is just my husband and I, I sometimes find my home to be too noisy and full of distractions. Some of you may have children, and they are noisy, and very distracting, and in need of supervision of they are small; which leads to another obstacle to study, lack of time.  The home is full of noise... the TV, the computer, your phone... yes... all three produce distracting noise, whether it's having the TV on, the glare of the computer screen, or your phone constantly beeping with texts and notifications.

my 'sacred space'

Then there is time... we all have busy schedules. Some of us work either in the home or in our career field, sometimes both , some are retired and volunteering, or retired and caregiving. Some of us have kids with schedules that barely even let us catch our breath... soccer, ballet, baseball, art and music lessons, scouts.... You barely have time to change clothes and shower let alone have time for yourself and your spiritual practice. As a homemaker without children you'd think that I have no problem with time... for me it's the distractions of TV, my phone and a sometimes insane schedule of medical appointments to manage my chronic illness that leaves me wondering … where did my time go? When will I study? When will I pray? I have found that when you have a designated place to practice your spirituality that you are more likely to practice it consistently.  

An e-book is in the works from this series for a donation of  $5.  Date TBA