(This is the first of a three-part series of posts on self-care and first appeared on the author’s website aninditarungta.com)
When was the last time you felt that your health was completely in your hands?
That you had the power to decide the outcome of your health goals?
Do you often feel powerless in front of medical authorities when you meet them for your health issues?
This is not confined only to doctor visits though.
This can happen to any of us anywhere and with anyone that we chose to give away our power to. We often knowingly or unknowingly give away our power over our own lives to authorities outside of us and to the circumstances in our lives.
When we hear the word Power we usually think of it as something lying outside of us.
A powerful car.
A powerful businessman or leader.
A powerful speech.
A powerful motorbike.
A powerful doctor that everyone listens to.
This can also be in the form of thinking that-
If only I had that dream house, I would be able to settle down and be happy
If only I could find someone who finally understands me and loves me, everything would be fine
If only I could have enough money, I would take that long vacation and finally be happy
Does this sound familiar to you?
More often than not we fail to realise we have given our power and in turn our happiness to people and circumstances which lie outside of us. This holds true for all aspects of our lives including our health issues
Instead of turning deep into ourselves, trusting our instincts and listening to what our body is trying to tell us, we usually ignore or otherwise medicate our way out of the symptoms. Medication, of course, has its right of place and is life saving when used properly and for the right reasons. However, when medicine is used as a substitute for self care and leading a well balanced life, it can end up creating a lot of problems in the long run.
“Selfcare is how you take your power back“
Our body is a truly amazing and miraculous thing. Too often we fail to give it the support that it needs on a daily basis to take care of us and keep us healthy. We forget that our bodies have an innate ability to heal provided all the right ingredients are present.
Taking the time to really get to know yourself and who you have become and in turn what your body needs at this point in time, is one of the first places to start. This does not happen in one go and neither does it happen overnight, so we need to deliberately take out the time for self care from our busy schedules on a daily basis.
But before we can begin moving towards changing the way we treat ourselves, we may need to recognise the ways in which we have been giving away our personal power.
We need to...
STOP
Blaming others for our health condition and take responsibility for the choices that we have made
Giving so much to others that we start feeling empty and resentful inside
Holding onto anger and grudges against others who may intentionally or unintentionally have hurt us
Letting other people’s behaviour dictate our emotions and how we feel about ourselves and others
INSTEAD……we can
Take the time to sit down with ourselves and learn to truly listen to what we need at this moment
Take responsibility for our own life, feelings and actions
Face our fears and learn to accept the dark and unwanted parts of ourselves as gracefully as we do our strengths; once we are able to do so, they lose their power over us
Nourish our mind and body with positive thoughts and energy by eating the right foods and taking out time to take care of our emotional and physical needs on a daily basis
Most of all, we can get to know ourselves as we would a new friend
In getting to know ourselves, we may…
get to know what we want and what we do not want in our lives, what our likes and dislikes are
find that what we were looking for was within us all the time
find that we need to forgive and move on, and many times the person who needs to be forgiven is ourselves
We can then finally start reclaiming our power and move towards our health and other life goals…