What do these two words mean to you? As someone who was raised in the “work hard to get ahead” generation that meant long hours, finish as much as humanly possible in a day, self-care seemed non-existent. As a result of going to work day in day out, I’d often leave my office feeling tired, uninspired, and just wanting to eat dinner and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. That was how I operated in my early career. Self-care really wasn’t part of the equation. Then I visited OHI in Lemon Grove, California near San Diego in the early 2000’s. OHI is Optimum Health Institute. They are a community which focuses on the mind, body, spirit connection.
From their website: For over 30 years, OHI has helped over 150,000 people tap into their own restorative power to lead more balanced, healthy, and spirit-filled lives. Their mission is t provide:
• Comprehensive, holistic body-mind-spirit program that promotes healing
• Safe and sacred environment where rest, relaxation and rejuvenation can occur
• Nurturing and supportive community that can help you thrive.
The experience I had there opened my eyes to this whole idea of self-care. Self-care, to me, means restoring, refreshing, recharging on the regular through the three lenses I studied at OHI: min, body, and spirit.
Mind: How we think about ourselves affects our words and actions and habits. What are the stories you are telling yourself? In my early years the stories I would tell myself were horrible and so negative. They were shades of “not good enough” “too fat” “not smart enough” Are you telling yourself similar stories? Well it’s time to let that be the past. At OHI, we worked on quieting the mind and focusing it on what we want to get out of life.
Body: What you eat matters. Did you know that? There’s so many diets out there, and whatever you eat is your diet. At OHI, the focus was on whole natural, raw foods; drinking wheatgrass and water half your weight in ounces, among other things. Whether you’re on a vegetarian, keto, paleo, etc diet, pay attention to how the foods you eat make you feel. In addition, what are you doing about moving your body? Every morning at OHI we would walk the grounds and in the afternoon, we would do yoga. It definitely helps revitalize the body. Do something thing every day.
Spirit: What are you doing to nourish your spirit? At OHI there were several ways we enriched our spirits. There were several places to meditate across the campus and reflect on questions like
What inspires me?
What gives me hope?
What gives me joy?
What touches my heart?
What heals my heart?
There was time for prayer in the morning, before every meal. There was also time for celebration to revitalize your spirit. One year my friend and I had a little art exhibit. We painted throughout the week and at the end had some artwork to share.
That’s a little taste of my self-care experience at OHI. I do my best to incorporate these practices at home. Some days are easier than others. Now my self-care practice at home is yoga in the morning when I get up, journaling three things – 1) what went well yesterday 2) what didn’t go so great 3) what did I learn about myself. I pack my lunch, so I’m not overspending and overindulging. I keep a jar of memorable memories at work. When something good happens I write it down on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. I read all the notes at the end of the year. I recently discovered an app called insight timer. It’s awesome! There’s so many guided meditations, as short as one minute. Great way to start and end the day.
How about you? What do you do? What do you want to try? Need support or help, reach out! Send me an email to clarissa@clarissastudio.com or fill out the short questionnaire. I’ll be in touch!
