This week, we enter the special place I told you about last week. Our secret and sacred inner waterfall, where we can relax and refill with peace, serenity.

This is where I retreat when the world starts to drain me. When I feel stressed, filled with negativity, when my patience is worn out, when everything and everybody just gets on my nerves. I know it’s time for me to go to my inner waterfall, to listen to the running water, to feel the soft breeze, to relax and let it all go.

With time, I discovered what brings me this inner peace I crave sometimes.

• I can listen to music, I have playlist for each and every mood I can be in. As I am really eclectic, I can find music for each an every emotion I feel, or for each and every need I have. I let myself dive into the rhythm, let the flow ripping all the stress away, letting the frustration get out and away, and replacing it with serenity, peace and freedom.
• I can play music too, and whistle is amazing for that, as the way we breathe can change everything, each octave is linked to a strength in blow, so the instrument really expresses our state of mind. With time, I learned enough tunes to be able to choose the ones that can help me gain my breathing, and emotional, control back. Then I can just enjoy playing my favorites and let the music do its cleansing job on my soul.
• My daily self care routine is the simplest one: I take a shower at the end of the afternoon. I let all the negativity be taken away by the running water, I visualize the cleansing as it goes on, and once done, I wrap myself into a soft towel or bathrobe, hydrate my skin, make a good cup of tea, and drink it watching the landscape. It can take me 5 minutes or 30, depending on the day I had. But then, I feel ready to go on with my evening. I am a night owl, this is my realm. To me, it’s a bit like the day is what I have to do, what is required from me, work, errands, social interactions. Then in the evening/night, I am free to be myself and do whatever nourishes my soul. I know…
• Another way to take care of myself is to draw, to write, to be creative. To let go of everything bothering me on paper, or on my screen. Once ‘materialized’ it doesn’t belong to me anymore, and I can go on with my journey.
• Something else I really enjoy and that brings me joy is to learn something new. I try to open myself as often as I can to knowledge, to experiences. I can do it by reading, by watching videos, any way to learn something new, to understand the world I live in is a good way. I can also read to escape if only for a few minutes or hours to whatever stresses me. To let my mind wander in another world, another place, another time. It brings me perspective, and allow me to have another perspective. And that, my friends, with a brain like mine, is self care!
• Whenever I can, I love to go by water. A lake, a river, the sea, any water place. I don’t necessarily go in the water, most of the time, I just watch it, listen to it. I can read, meditate, draw, play whistle, whatever I feel like. Being in presence of water just soothe my soul. Even if I am a really earthy person. But once again, to me, water just takes away all this negativity we are stuck with sometimes, and replace it with a fresh flow of clean, peaceful thoughts.
• I can also feed my body by cooking my favorite meal. And if there is too much for me to eat, I’ll just freeze it for another self care meal later!

Even when I was a full time working single mom I set up a daily date with myself to take care of myself. I woke up a bit earlier and spend some time doing whatever brought me peace, joy. And as soon and often as I could, I tried to spend time with myself, to reflect, to be creative, to relax, to focus on myself. I never saw that as a selfish move, but rather as a way to be able to do whatever I needed to do from a place of peace, of serenity. « To give the best of myself, and not what’s left of myself », as a quote I found today would say.

And this time offers us the possibility to focus on what brings us joy, on what brings us peace. It’s a perfect time to start taking care of ourselves, so we can face the challenges we are offered since a year. We are all submitted to uncertainties, to stress, to anxiety. Let’s take a few minutes a day to step back from it and do something that fills us with what we deserve, that nourishes us, that brings us the peace we need, even for a short while.

The card

I wanted to draw something peaceful but joyful, a bit mysterious and mystic, with a cooling effect, and places I could easily visualize myself resting. The water had to be as pure as possible, the waterfall coming from the grove, the foliage would offer shadow to protect us from direct sun, the cliff had to have some mysterious patterns that would allow the mind wandering… and the soft grass would offer us a cozy bed to lay onto. I can picture myself sitting on the rocks under the waterfall and letting the water washing me from all that bothers me… I hope it gives you the same feeling.

So this week, spend some time to take care of yourself, to do something you love, something that brings you joy, peace, something that will take away the negativity or stress you may feel. Something that will make you feel freely breathing, something that will make you smile. Something to do for yourself, because you deserve it.

My journey

Our journal

This week prompts are:

• I know I need to take care of myself when…
• When I need to relax, I ….
• This makes me feel good:
• When I need to spend time with myself, I can…

Our stickers and cards

I wish you a good peaceful week.