“Look after yourself.”
But we’re almost predisposed to make it as hard as possible for ourselves, as if it’s a test, a way to prove our metal.
(Sometimes it’s a way to avoid life…!)
If this sounds a little macho then I apologise but why is it that we don’t say “No” more often to the demands of life — largely, I’m afraid to say, self-induced — that bend us out of shape?
We want to get on?
There’s a moral order we can’t escape?
We’ve no choice?
I don’t know.
I do know that taking care of our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing requires immense discipline — or at least for me. It’s not that I’m lazy or indifferent but too often I’ve fallen into a shabby-clothed routine that, when I’ve finally woken from my narcissistic torpor, takes me quite a while to unravel my state of unbeingness.
I realise that none of what I’m saying is revelatory but perhaps we need a formal practice or at least a regular check-in to invite a question into the very depths of our soul that allows a space for us to be honest, transparent and to cut ourselves some slack from the vicissitudes of life.
Again, I’m not sure.
If it was that easy then I wouldn’t continue to bear witness to a litany of behaviour where, by and large, there’s a cacophony of voices that militate or are antithetical to the notion of self-care; and far from me to exhort anything, but just once in a while perhaps we need a gentle, loving reminder that we’re all flesh and blood and not an artificially (un)intelligenced machine.
Anyhow, it’s Friday.
It’s a shortish day for me and I’d like to go to the beach if I get a chance. Don’t ask me why but I feel a need to feel the sea mist gather around me and allow my mind to wander around the enormity of nature and all that she offers.
Take care of yourself.
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