Introducing The “Power Hour”
For those of you who missed the beginning of September to start, or stick with your self-care routine and rituals, you are not alone. So many women struggle to make time for themselves, and they put their needs at the bottom of their never-ending to do list. One of my biggest “A-ha’s” was the realization that I am always going to feel like I have too many balls in the air. The never-ending chore list is never going to be done. So why wait until everything else is done, before I start taking better care of myself? Life is not going to get easier. My responsibilities are not going to go away, so how can I learn to manage my life experience without constantly feeling like I am barely able to keep my head above the water?
The only way we make our experience of our lives better is by becoming curators of our own wellness. We make taking care of ourselves a priority within our lives and we practice self-care. I am not talking about “lavish” self-care. Manicures, pedicures, shopping…all of those things are fantastic and fun and but what I am really referring to when I speak of self-care is daily rituals and routines that promote the nourishment of our bodies, minds, and spirits. They are the practices that help us tune into and keep in touch with ourselves; our needs, our wants and our dreams and our desires. Most women are very in-tune with what the people they care for in their lives need, but at times they are so focused on everyone else that they lose touch with themselves. To reconnect internally, I recommend that women invest one hour per day, on herself, by herself, with herself. And that she uses that time to listen to her own voice, to hear her own thoughts, to own her feelings and emotions and decide from a place of calm and clarity what she is going to do about all of it.
Self-care is about making time and space for yourself, amidst all of your other roles and responsibilities. For myself and my clients, one of my favourite exercises is what I refer to it as the “Power Hour.” 20 minutes of moving your body, 20 minutes relaxing or meditating and 20 minutes doing something you love. A daily practice like this restores your reserves and puts you back in touch with your own experience. When we are more connected to ourselves, we are less reactive. We have more clarity about our priorities and values. We are more focused on what really needs to get done and what can wait.
When we create a time and space to breathe, to be ourselves, to be with ourselves every single day, we learn to care for ourselves. And when women practice excellent self-care, they feel more centered and in touch with themselves and thriving becomes the life experience instead of surviving. The more we learn to fill our own buckets, the more our overflowing buckets fill others’ buckets. For this next month, I challenge you to practice excellent self-care and start your own “Power Hour” rituals, and become a curator of your own wellness!
