Little Changes

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur" ~Leo Tolstoy~

For the longest time, in truth for the first 50 years of my life, I have been afraid, unskilled, and felt totally unworthy of nurturing myself. Does this sound familiar to any of you? Ever asked yourself why?

Aside from a definite lack of my own self worth, which for 50 years revolved solely around taking care of others --people pleasing-- I have also learned that I lived in fear of my own creative success.

One thing, no two things, that brought me to this epiphany were extreme family conflict and the publication of my recent book Shadows of Love. One reignited the creativity that had been lying dormany for over 9 years and allowed it to blossom like a plant moving toward the light.

Both the upheaval in my own family and the publication of my last book (Dancing With The Spirits of Shadowplay  (and the subsequent request to write another which is well underway) showed me in neon lights that I had to make changes in my life, even ones I did not want or like, to get me out of my familiar rut which had become so comforting even if in an insidious fashion. These were not to be massive changes, just little ones.

Little changes will eventually lead to great leaps and although self nurturing is difficult for me, I have learned that if I want MY life to come together, I have to start treating ME better. I have definitely learned over the course of these last several months that no one ever will do it for me... and no one else can do it for you.

We can all start this self nurturing process today by doing something as simple as making a list of ten things you could do or want to do for yourself. Then pick just one of those and DO IT. JUST DO IT!

Then find a quiet spot or cut out a time frame just for you and take an honest look at how y0 treat yourself. Do you get enough sleep? Are you getting enough exercise? Do you schedule time for medication or find a way to simply shut out the outside world and really relax? Can you turn off the t.v., the cell phone, the computer, the radio etc for just one day to spend time with you? How about pursuing things that bring you pleasure?