Embracing Self Care - Health & Spirituality

Last week, I did a self-analysis for the blog project hosted by The Humbled Homemaker called...

Is it weird that I feel a touch of guilt to turn the focus on myself vs. taking care of everyone else? Ack. That's what this whole thing is about, though; recognizing that it's imperative to take care of OURSELVES in order to properly care for our families and loved ones.

Anyhoo, back to the task at hand. One of the issues that I mentioned last week is that, thanks to the crazy scheduled, toddler-centric, over-tired aspects of our life, we seem to be out of touch with our spirituality.

*record scratch*

Okay. This would probably be a good time to state publicly: We're part of that growing percentage of folks who don't really identify with a religion. Read: We're non-religious. Not atheist. Not nontheist, even. Just...don't identify. I like to say that we're both recovering Catholics, and I think Dave is a mix of atheist with a good dose of Buddhist. And I'm essentially "undecided" on the checklist.

It feels terribly taboo to even make such an announcement, but since this week is all about spirituality, it seemed a good time to mention it. See, I'm not sure the last time I read a blog from someone who wasn't a known Christian. Not kidding. Most of the homestead-y blogs I follow are run by uber Christians. Even a lot of the shelter blogs I enjoy are run by super religious folks.

And I enjoy them, even when I think to myself, "Huh. I'm a tad uncomfortable that I'm not 'part of the club.'" Read: I never write about religion because I don't want to alienate anyone... So hopefully no one's offended by our current religious decisions. It's where we are, and I'd rather be honest than mute.

I'm actually quite well versed in the religions (I was very close to majoring in philosophy in college, and as I see it, religion is all about a person's life philosophy) and have a plethora of priests/ministers on both sides of my family. I've been "converted" once [clearly didn't stick...and my mom flipped, understandably so; I was, like, 10 years old]. I've had a love-hate relationship with traditional organized religion and experimented with Eastern religions in high school. (Thanks, Beatles and Peter Tork, for your influence.)

The most "in touch" I ever was with my spiritual side was definitely when I was in about 9th grade and had read A LOT about transcendental meditation. I've gotta tell ya...that $%&# is real. Meditation helped me to find myself during a normally confusing, crazy hormonal time. It helped me to recognize the "truth" of life. It helped me learn how to cope with stress and center myself in ANY situation. It helped me to connect with my surroundings and nature in deeper consciousness levels. Heck, I used to be so in-touch with my inner being that I still remember my first out-of-body meditation experience -- in a very busy cafeteria during study hall the day of Mr. Hefner's funeral. How's that for specific? LOL.

So, let's just say, I don't judge folks for their religion if they don't judge me. Can't we all just get along? :-D

SPIRITUAL CARE

Needless to say, I'm not centered anymore. The life of a teenager is worlds away from that of a grown up mama. I can still analyze the stress level of a situation and calm myself mentally, but there's zero meditation. Zero spiritual connection. Zero gravitational pull.

Dave has mentioned an interest in meditation before, but nothing has ever come of it. I'm going to bring it up to him and see if he'd be interested in a) learning how to do it (I'm rusty, but I've got a pretty good foundation) and b) actually putting it into our schedule rotation.

Even if he's not interested, I'd like to be able to add PEACE into each day. Even a minimum of ten minutes spent with zero TV, zero phone, zero internet will hopefully help me start to center. A little at a time. :-) And I think that I'll be able to find some patience to deal with an almost-terrible-twos munchkin and an ability to focus better on Dave and his needs.

HEALTH CARE

On a health note, we also need to analyze our sleep situation. We've been going to sleep earlier and earlier, to no avail. We still wake up relatively exhausted. Whuh??

According to this British article (love those!), there are a couple of things I'm doing wrong. Firstly, I hit snooze. Heck, I actually set two alarms on my phone -- an initial one, then the "bonus!" one that makes me feel like I hit the ten minute jackpot. Silly girl. No more of that.

Secondly, the thing that makes the most sense AND helps us get in touch with our spirituality (hello, 2 birds + 1 stone) is GETTING OUTSIDE. It's been one heck of a winter for, um, everyone everywhere, so we've definitely gotten in a "sit on our arses" rut. It's time for us all (as a family) to get a-walkin'.

Remember when we were kids and the first nice day hit? We'd run outside and play with anything that wasn't covered in cobwebs, or just walk around the block -- LOVING that we just had to wear our brother's hand-me-down light jacket (since we'd only needed it for, like, a week). Didn't we sleep like babies that night? Of course.

Well, that's the idea here. I wish we could do it daily, but with P/T two nights and dinner-making, I just don't think it's plausible. However, if I make a concerted effort to plan SIMPLE meals and get outside a few times each week, it might help recharge us enough to try it even more. Baby steps. :-)

How are you doing with your spiritual and health journey? Are you in need of any fine tuning in any areas? Do you ever feel uncomfortable when your religious views don't align with someone else who wears it on their sleeve? Or is that just me? ;-)