12 Tiny Self-Care Practices for an Intentional Life
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ellie Roscher, author of 12 Tiny Things.
About a year ago, a coach told me, “You are really good at loving people. That is your full-time job.” Naming LOVE as my work has helped me stay present in the moment more often and fully commit to the task at hand without clinging to the outcome. I have a variety of jobs—parenting, teaching, and writing to name a few—which are all different versions of my work to love.
The same coach urged me, “Take five minutes in the morning to show yourself love. That will be enough to fill you up so you can love others in your day.”
That advice resurfaced last weekend during a yoga teacher training. We sat in masks, facing our partners and held eye contact for several minutes. I pitched my body forward a few inches as a gesture of connection, wanting my partner to know I was there for her. The facilitator cued me to pull my shoulders back over my hips. Alignment came with a sense of expansiveness. I wasn’t pulling away from my partner, I was pulling into my own core, which made my connection to my partner even stronger. Those two inches made all the difference.
Pitching forward is my go-to move. I reach toward the future instead of staying in the present. I reach try to make myself closer to others, putting their needs before my own. I overextend myself to please people and earn my keep. This past week, I have taken the time to stack my shoulders over my hips first, a living metaphor for loving myself so I can love others more fully.
At 12 Tiny Things, we commit to tiny self-care practices throughout the day as a way of loving ourselves. They ground us in what is important. They help us find rootedness for life on the go so we can engage in our work of love with vibrancy and joy.
If you find yourself pitching forward and disregarding your own needs, here are 12 tiny self-care practices to try!
- Once a day, take a moment to look all the way up to the sky. The universe is big, and you are here, alive, experiencing it.
- Pick a part of your body that you ignore or have thought of harshly. Spend a few minutes massaging that area with lotion, offering it tender affection, re-integrating it back into the whole.
- Say no to one calendar invite that is not necessary and will not bring you joy. In saying no to that, what might you be saying yes to?
- Take a moment in the morning to decide what your body really wants to drink first.
- Take three deep breaths. Simply notice that you are breathing.
- Choose a daily activity like washing dishes or climbing a staircase and do it affectionately. Can a simple, repeated task become a time of renewal?
- Stack your shoulders over your hips. Roll your shoulders up to your ears and back down your back, pressing your heart forward an inch. Notice your alignment and core.
- Donate ten things you don’t use. Notice if the extra space you created can inspire you to create space in other area of your life, too.
- Keep a wellness calendar or choose a color on your digital calendar to signal wellness. When you schedule something that is just for you, mark it. When you are feeling most depleted, notice if your wellness calendar is a bit bare.
- Declare a Nothing Day, afternoon, hour, or even thirty minutes for you and your family. Stay in your pajamas and hide your screens.
- Set a bedtime that would help you to wake up feeling rested and stick to it.
- Light a candle, turn on your favorite song, eat a piece of chocolate with your eyes closed, walk around the block, sneak an extra snuggle. Sprinkle tiny things that bring you pleasure throughout your day.
You are worth your time. Your well-being is deserving of cultivating a tiny self-care routine. Together, we can be brave enough to love ourselves, live from our core and enjoy more intentional, balanced, and joyful days.
12 Tiny Things is available today!
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Ellie Roscher is the author of 12 Tiny Things, Play Like a Girl and How Coffee Saved My Life. Her writing also appears in the Baltimore Review, Inscape Magazine, Bookology Magazine and elsewhere. Ellie hosts the Unlikely Conversations podcast, is a certified yoga instructor and teaches at The Loft Literary Center and the Minnesota Writing Project. Ellie holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and an MA in Theology from Luther Seminary. Follow her at @ellieroscher and find out more at ellieroscher.com.
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