October 12, 2024
Updated link below. Thank you to S for pointing out the original link was behind a membership paywall. Apologies! ~ Catherine, 10/13/24
Self-care is a funny thing. A part of me resists the notion, since I’m still somewhat influenced by programming that tells me, “Everything else is more important.”
I believe every person experiences turbulent times. And calm periods. Self-care is much easier during the calm periods. I’ve found the true test of commitment to self is when everything else is, indeed, more important.
For the past year I’ve been establishing the shortest spiritual self-care routine on record, about five minutes per day. Just five minutes! How hard could it be?
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It’s been a rough week in our household. Fluffy launched into one of his virulent pancreatitis episodes last weekend. It was astonishingly short-lived, thanks to homeopathic remedies, consistent hands-on treatment, and continual monitoring.
A few days later my dear elderly mother suddenly broke into irrational, bizarre behavior, like some hopeful wannabe auditioning for Dementia, the Musical, in the Super Silver Follies.
“How could she suddenly get so bad so fast?” wondered I. “She probably has a UTI” responded the palliative care nurse.
Oh. Duh. I knew that, but I forgot. This is why I never hesitate to reach out for professional help.
The point of these examples is, family needed me big-time last week. And yet I did not desert self-care. I stuck with my spiritual routine (as taught in the Simple Spiritual System—doing four morning pillars for one minute each, and twice-daily Inner Child check-ins). Miracle of miracles, I didn’t skip physical therapy exercises, either.
The SSS spiritual routine has become a keystone of self-care, and I didn’t even realize that might happen.
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I’ve had other routines over the years, waxing and waning, the hopeful brightening moon, the disappointed lessening moon. I imagine many people exploring spiritual matters behave similarly. If we’re lucky, we find something that works for a while and stay with it.
I believe that sometime in the close future, not far away at all, our Woo routines and rituals, our talismans and chants, will be as outré as granite wheels from Stone Age times.
Between that reality and this present day, time stretches with its peculiar taffy elasticity, speeding us through some days and coming to an apparent standstill on others. Whatever form “time” takes, we may take comfort from performing our daily rituals and routines.
I’ve no intention of laying mine aside anytime soon. Whether from nostalgia or profound appreciation, I suspect I will keep doing them later, even when my 5D-plus self has no need for them, the same way I might keep eating favorite foods when I’ve no need for such nourishment.
Until our ships come in and the tide turns, I’ll bring as much of my imagined future into my present as I can, starting my day with four pillars that constitute a contract of love with myself.
Learn more about the Simple Spiritual System: https://nataliegianelli.com/community
The 4 Pillars are Meditation, Connection with Nature, Creativity, and Dance.