Three Baby Steps to Help You Prioritize Self-Care
“Self-care—the art of attuning and responding to your needs and desires, moment to moment—is not about adding something to your to-do list, it’s about cultivating a new way of being with yourself.” – Renee Trudeau
Recently while leading a retreat, I spoke to a couple who are both working from home full-time, juggling child care and really struggling. The dad shared, “I get that self-care is important, but I have no idea what I need and I’m not even sure where to start! Any advice?”
I loved this question and I offered my friend the following three “baby steps” to help him cultivate the ability to check-in on what he needs in the moment:
- Morning body scan. When you first wake up in the morning, pause before you jump out of bed. Close your eyes, take some deep breaths and slowly scan your body from the crown of your head down to your shoulders, your torso, your hips, knees, feet and reflect on What do I most need today to feel nourished? It could be in the physical, emotional or spiritual realm. Sometimes my body says, “Kale!” and often it’s, “You need to bump that afternoon meeting to next week, you’re way over-scheduled!”
- Tune-in. Research in the area of self-compassion tells us that nurturing self-touch has a significant impact on our ability to feel kinder towards ourselves. Throughout your day, pause, put a hand on the center of your chest and ask, “What do I need?” It will feel weird at first, but the more you tune-in, the more natural it becomes. You can do this anywhere (especially when you feel overwhelmed): in middle of a work training, a school event or during a family dinner. Attuning to what you need moment to moment takes practice but it’s the first step towards cultivating a daily practice.
- “Quickie journaling.” My favorite journaling exercise for whenever I feel out of alignment, scattered or anxious, is simply pausing to check-in on these three questions (I keep a little journal and pen in my car and in my purse): How do I feel? What do I need? What do I want? Women around the world who participate in our monthly women’s self-renewal circles have been asking these three simple questions for more than 20 years – it’s amazing how effective this exercise is for helping you quickly reconnect to your needs and desires. My husband does this, too!
If you’re just starting a self-care practice, remember: baby steps, be curious and invite in self-compassion. Believing you are worthy of self-care and that it’s your birthright is a radical stance and takes courage. Ask for help and choose to be around people who are also making their self-care a priority. The self-care pebbles we drop in our pond today, create ripples for generations to come.
FOUR NEW SELF-RENEWAL EVENTS/RESOURCES ~ JOIN ME!
- **SOLD OUT: JOIN THE WAITING LIST.** September 15-17th ~ Sing, Dance, Pray: Romancing the Beloved at the Retreat Center at Lake Logan (45 min. from Asheville, NC airport). Located on sacred land in the oldest mountain range in the world. Limited to 25 women. Email info at reneetrudeau dot com to be on our waiting list or join us in October at Kripalu (below). Learn more.
- October 13-15th ~ Awakening Your Wild Soul: A Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health (Berkshire Mountains, MA). Packages start at just $635. This is our most popular retreat of the year (gorgeous leaf color; Kripalu pictured above!). Learn more/register. Can’t make it? Join me at Kripalu Jan. 19-21 for Sing, Dance, Pray: Romancing the Beloved women’s self-renewal retreat.
- Wild Souls Nature Adventures (based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC): authentic movement classes, community song circles, full moon hikes, meditation workshops, women’s circles & more. New offerings are listed each week; have me design a custom experience for your team/friends. Join us each Sunday for Wild Souls Authentic Movement class near Asheville, NC and save Sept. 23 for a Fall Equinox song circle. Learn more.
- Download your self-guided retreat today ~ Ready to prioritize your self-care, relax your body and enjoy empowering mentoring from Renee 24/7 from the comfort of your home, car or office? Our highly popular self-paced online retreats are only $59. Download & enjoy today. Learn more.
Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by mindfulness coach/author/speaker and self-care evangelist Renée Peterson Trudeau. Passionate about helping men and women find balance through the art/science of self-care, Renee has been facilitating high-impact, interactive workshops for Fortune 500 companies, national nonprofits/conferences and organizations/teams worldwide for 25 years. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Fast Company, Good Housekeeping, US News & World Report, AARP, Spirituality & Health and more. She and her team have certified more than 450 facilitators in 10 countries around the globe to lead self-renewal groups/retreats based on her pioneering self-care curriculum. She’s the author of two books on life balance including the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life. She and her husband live in Western North Carolina and Austin, Texas; her latest venture is Wild Souls Nature Adventures. More on Renee here.
