When is the last time you did something just for yourself? If it was today or yesterday then you are way ahead of most. The problem is that most people think of
others first and themselves last. Life is challenging enough but why make it harder than it has to be?
It does not matter where you stand in terms of your health, your relationships or your finances but if you are not putting yourself first then you are not doing yourself justice. This is why the most important qualify you can cultivate is that of self-compassion. You must
take care of yourself because nobody else is going to.
In this hectic world we live in, where information travels at the speed of light, there is so much that vies for our attention that we often lose sight of what matters the most and that is loving and caring for ourselves. This is not selfish but absolutely essential because if you do not look after yourself then you will not
be able to help others who depend on you.
The world will always want you to fulfill its agenda and not yours, which is why you must actively seek out time for self-care. Here are some tips to help you on this path:
1) Learn to say no. There are a lot of demands
put on our time and not everything that we are asked to do fits our higher mission or our greater agenda. You must learn to say no to anything that you are asked to do that does not align with who you are. Of course there will be times that you will need to help out someone in dire need but you need to say no to anything else that is simply a waste of your time.
2) Spend time daily doing
something just for yourself. This could be as simple as going for a walk, reading a book or journaling or something more involved such as playing a team sport, organizing a dinner with friends or meeting a friend at a cafe. It does not matter what it is but you must do something for yourself daily.
3) Ask yourself, 'What would I attempt to do if I knew I could not fail and
money was not an issue?' The truth is that if you can answer this question and you are not doing this very thing or working towards it, you are living out of alignment with who you are. Even if your work or your career is not in alignment with what you truly want to do, you can spend some time daily working towards your higher goals. You can only do this if you answer the important question above and create an action plan to achieve it.
4) Do not beat yourself up for your perceived failures. Be gentle with yourself. The fact is that failure is not what it appears to be but is simply the universe course correcting you on your path to what you are truly meant for. Failure is simply another word for education because all failures are learning experiences and your greatest teachers.
5) Do not take life too seriously. You are only here for a short time and you are making it up as you go along, even if you do not believe this to be true. You can create whatever you wish in your life and the only reason you have not done this yet is because you have been conditioned to believe otherwise. In order to unleash your creativity you must have the courage to let go of everything that you think is true and your perceived reality and
not to take life too seriously.
If you follow the steps I have outlined above, you will, inevitably, cultivate self-compassion, be able to live from your intuition and unleash your creativity and true potential. This is the only way to truly live and you have nothing to lose but everything to gain on this path.
Dr. Nauman Naeem
