Self-care for Sensitive Souls
Reconnect with your inner resources
Do you ever think to yourself, ‘I’ve got all these techniques from mindfulness and meditation to make my life better, yet somehow, I don’t have the motivation to actually get on and practise them.’? Even with all the teachings and tips out there, there’s very little guidance on how to keep going when we don't feel inspired. This is where the rubber the meets the road – it’s one thing to learn about meditation and browse all those articles on the internet about mindful living, but when it comes down to actually doing it, our good intentions tend to peter out. There is a way of keeping up your momentum in your meditation practice, that doesn’t get talked about very much. You just have to look around you ... You know how being around a positive, kind person makes us feel like being kind and positive? It’s the same for anything we want to be inspired to do. Could be eating wholesome food that takes care of our health and the earth, could be social activism for a cause we’re passionate about, could be getting out those paints and creating something just because our soul wants to. When we have people around us who share our deeper values, it’s much easier to act on those values. So it is with meditation and mindfulness. The culture in the world’s wisdom traditions has always been to have a place, whether it was church on Sundays in the Christian tradition, or in non-religious traditions a dedicated space to go, to commune together, to practise together, to connect with each other. And there would usually be a teacher to help and guide people. What we’re seeing now is that we live in greater isolation from each other in all kinds of ways – staying in our houses, in our cars – and added to that, many people have turned away from anything that seems religious or anything that sounds like dogma or any kind of organised religion. But along the way we’ve lost that support network around us for our meditation practice as well. And we don’t really have that many people around us who inspire us, because we’re so separated from each other. So what does this mean for us? It just means that we have to recreate that support, by spending more time with people who inspire us. You may be lucky enough to be part of an informal community of people who share your values – be it volunteers or choir singers or nature-lovers – doing whatever it is that your soul loves to engage in with others, and makes you feel like the kind of person you truly are. Being around these people inclines you towards nourishing what is deeper in you. That’s a lot of support already. But what about people who inspire you to practise meditation, people who are also on that path, that you’re connected to regularly? Probably not so much. You would think that we have everything we need to develop our meditation practice. There’s no lack of really wonderful courses out there, and there’s an overwhelming amount of books, and online courses, and even mindfulness apps for our phone. Yet what happens is, without somebody to regularly check in with in some way, who can answer our questions, or without a peer group around us that we’re regularly connected with, it’s really hard to sustain that practice. When we build support into our practice, our journey into mindfulness becomes much, much easier. If this resonates with you, you might ask yourself, what action could you take that would support and nourish you in your practice?
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Claire Seabrook Body Mind practitioner Cheltenham |