How will I ever get everything done?! If you are a curious, creative, sensitive person, you know the problem. You have a life already too full to fit everything in. And you don’t want to skip your projects and creativity.
Yes, you’d like to follow your dreams in a happy and smoothy way. But instead, too often everything seems like a struggle.
Plus, especially for people who walk through this world with open eyes, there’s a multitude of triggers that can add to our stress level. Injustice, violence, the whole package.
And sometimes we even get out of balance at some point in our lives, pursuing our dreams. Presenting us with a little not-asked-for-down-time, life might invite us to ask a second question: How can I thrive while striving for my own goals?
How can good health be part of the whole picture?
Self-care is key
It would be nice to at least gain a feeling of things being roughly okay – a Good-Enough Area for Living. So that our fight or flight response isn’t triggered all the time, because if it is – how can we make our contribution?
We tend to think that taking care of ourselves is something egocentric (which means: not good for others).
Isn’t that odd?
Being caught in a poisonous situation with nowhere near enough self-care doesn’t make us more helpful for others, does it?
We need to thrive to do our thing. And we need to thrive to help others.
Encouraging each other to head for our dreams
I think we should encourage each other to pursue our dreams. In fact, it’s not only me who thinks that’s exactly what we should be doing. Ask Barbara Sher. Ask Seth Godin. Ask …
- They might be creative dreams.
- It might be the hunger for learning, for certain interests that fascinate us.
- Or it might be the urge to make this world a better place.
Probably a mixture of these.
So, to encourage yourself on your path, take baby steps. I’ll show you three of them here. Easy to do. Very efficient. (Hint: If you actually do the exercises. They’re tiny.)
3 steps that strengthen your dreams and balance at the same time
Self-care Step # 1: Coming home to your body
Taking care of your physical as well as emotional needs will give you the stability you need to unfold your potential and your personality.
Each little action counts!
This is how it’s done: Feel your body.
Feel.
Now.
Close your eyes. Take a breath and listen to your body.
- What does your body want from you?
- What small step do you need for your wellbeing right now?
Now is the moment. Take this small action.
When you come back – how do you feel? More connected with yourself? Do you know what your body needs from you?
Coming home to your body is an act of self-care.
Learn more about it with this speech by Thich Nhat Hanh: How Do I Love Myself?
Self-care Step # 2: Emotional balance
Feelings won’t ever go away. We don’t like these immense Ups and Downs, especially not the Downs. Like panic, anger, depression (blocked feelings), pain, hurt feelings of all kinds.
And you’re not asked to exactly like them. But we can learn to handle them.
Okay, they suck. But they are normal. We’re all in this together.
This is how it’s done: Take three deep breaths.
Taking three deep breaths – the most basic exercise!
Do it. Right now:
Breathe and feel your feelings.
Yes, they’re there. You can be there for them.
Three breaths.
Taking the time to embrace yourself, including your feelings, whatever they may be.
Now feel the calm.
You always have breath with you to do this exercise. All you have to do is think of it and use it, whenever you need it.
If you like, you can also do the whole 10-minute relaxation exercise on my Media site.
Now for the third little exercise.
Self-care Step # 3: Be serious about your talents. Have fun!
Balance is not only a wellness thing to me, not only about relaxation and balancing emotion. Balance is also about being creative. If you are a creative being, you need to do something – some tiny thing – creative to be yourself again.
Living your creativity is fun. And fun matters! You ought to use your talents.
We’ve been taught it’s selfish to foster our talent. But it’s not!
The opposite is true: It’s selfish not to.
And how do you know, what your talents are? It’s the thing that give you the most fun. Here’s what Barbara Sher always says in her videos and books, and I love this so much I’m going to quote her over and over again:
What you love is what you are gifted at. It’s in your genes. You owe it to your species to make your contribution.
Barbara Sher
Here’s a video (4 minutes) in which Barbara explains her encouraging message.
You know you’ve hit target when something is fun to you.
This is how it’s done: Treat yourself! Do something you love.
But – what if you don’t have time?! Well, who has? You have to cheat by taking baby steps.
Think of something you love to do. Choose one thing that’s available to you now.
I know, you don’t have time. But – how long is it going to take? As much as three minutes for a drawing, a song or a dance.
Take this action. This tiny, little action. Now.
- Take a sheet of paper and do a quick drawing.
- If you are alone, put on a song and sing it or dance to the music.
- Or whatever it is you love.
A very small amount of time – three minutes – is available to you!
This is an act of love and self-care for creative people.
Done it?
See? You always have enough time for this!
By doing these three short exercises (body, emotion, creativity), you’ll bring dreams and balance together in your life.
Do them repeatedly and watch things get better. You’ll be connected to your breath, body, emotions, and creative hobbies. Life can be a smooth ride. Well, smoothier. 😉
Okay, which is the most important word of this article?
“Now.”
Do a small step now.
And make it a habit to do so.
Be sure to share your experience in the comments below.
And here is the next English article: Scanners, Renaissance People, Polymaths, Multipotentialites! There Is Hope: Polymath Is The New Normal
Want to read more about balance?
Here are two articles by Ntathu Allen from Yoga Inspires. Life. One Breath at a Time.
New to this blog?
Maybe you want to read my Start Here article.
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Thanks for your comments!
It is of great benefit to me to do something I love for just a few minutes a day. Some progress on a creative pursuit each day, no matter how small, has a much more positive impact then doing nothing at all.