treat yourself right to treat other right

“We can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly.” Brene Brown
You have heard prior that you cannot pour from an empty cup or that you must put your mask on first before helping anyone else, and there are plenty of other phrases that are meant to incite you to take care of yourself. These phrases hold the essence of compassion, self-compassion. You cannot extend kindness to others if you cannot extend it to yourself.
 
We live in a world where there is so much that is going on outside of ourselves. We work to keep up with demands imposed by others, and we tend to leave ourselves last. This is a recipe for burnout and the emotional challenges of impatience, anger, and depression. It is imperative that you dedicate allotted time daily for acts of self-care. We have talked about this before, and we are in agreement, there are studies about the need for all employees, most notably the healthcare workers under increased pressure to give and perform, to find time to care for themselves.  
 
We know that self-care can be many things. It can be a bath, a walk, retail therapy, exercise, a good book, and anything your heart desires that will allow you to feel joy, release, and peace. You can create rituals where you will find your routine to unwind. The time you give to you will help unleash a cascade of other ways unique to you to begin to care for yourself. Pencil this time in your schedule daily, and the positive changes will start to be seen by you and felt by those around you.
 
Self-care will lead to a more optimistic approach in your day; you will swell with more positive thoughts. You will inevitably want to treat yourself nicely. Your words and thoughts will change for you to know that you have always been worthy of care and who better give it to you than you. The inner talk can be reversed and that self-critical thinking will become self-loving. The time you give to yourself will foster an internal connection that you will cherish.
 
Self-care will lead to increased inner peace. You will know that your routine is set up, and that will assist you in releasing the day and all those pesky scenarios that do not serve you. Your connection to this present state, the mindful moment, will yield an understanding that your anxious thoughts of the future and the past are but gone with practice.    
 
Remember this always:

1. To be kind and loving, you must be kind and loving to yourself.
2. To be respectful of others, you must hold respect for yourself.  
3. To be peaceful among others, you must find peace in yourself.  

 
Re-read the above three statements. Here is an invitation to find ways to give yourself care, kindness, and love. Hold space daily for yourself. This will then allow you to extend to others those beautiful gifts that you give--time, energy, and love. We are always giving to others, turn around and give to ourselves, and see our world shift.