Questions
It’s A Wrap
Our Radical Self Care Project is now complete, and it’s time to wrap things up. As always, I like to get feedback on how the project worked in real life. So, with that in mind, here are some questions:
- Did you participate every day, or was it more of a hit and miss?
- What was your overall result? (good? bad? indifferent?)
- Was this particular project worthwhile? Or was it a waste of time?
- Did you have any insights or revelations? If so, what?
- Have you changed your ideas and opinions about yourself and/or your life as a result of this project? If so, how?
- What was your favorite exercise or idea?
- What was your least favorite?
- Will you continue to work on Self Care?
- Would you recommend Radical Self Care to others?
- Is there anything else that you would like to share?
What Is Radical Self Care?
I’m pretty sure I know what self care is. But what is Radical Self Care? And why is it radical? And what does radical even mean?
So I asked Google and this is what I found at the Indiana State University website:
Radical self-care involves embracing practices that keep us physically and psychologically healthy and fit, making time to reflect on what matters to us, challenging ourselves to grow, and checking ourselves to ensure that what we are doing aligns with what matters to us.
We consider this self-care “radical” because it fundamentally alters how we make choices about allocating time, money, and energy for ourselves personally, at home, and at work and seeks to revolutionize our workplace practices.
Practiced faithfully, radical self-care involves owning and directing our lives and choosing with whom, how, and how often we engage in our nested, interconnected worlds so that we can be unapologetically ourselves in the face of unrelenting pressure and expectations to be otherwise.
And at Integrative Nutrition, we have this explanation as to how regular self care differs from radical self care:
Self-care is taking care of your needs first, however that may look. In a broader sense, radical self-care involves healing your heart and soul (metaphorically) and healing your body in order to keep going. It’s about being present in your own care ‒ recognizing that you care for yourself in an intentional way.
These explanations are all well and good, but they don’t really answer my questions. In my world self care means taking care of your self… your whole self… why is this a radical thought? Which brings me to another question… What does radical even mean?
This was interesting! In chemistry, radical means:
A group of atoms behaving as a unit in a number of compounds.
As an adjective, it means:
(especially of change or action) relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough. For example ~ “a radical overhaul of the existing regulatory framework”
As a noun, it means:
A person who favors rapid and sweeping changes especially in laws and methods of government.
So based on what I just read, my interpretation of our Radical Self Care project goes something like this:
We are going to pull our self together, stop scattering our energy all over the place and begin to behave as a unit, as our own true self. And we will do this in a far reaching and thorough way because we want rapid and sweeping changes in the way we rule our lives.
I like this. What do you think? We start tomorrow! Are you ready?
Wrapping Things Up
Our Angelic Assistance Project is now complete, and it’s time to wrap things up. As always, I like to get feedback on how the project worked in real life. So, with that in mind, here are some questions:
- Did you participate every day, or was it more of a hit and miss?
- What was your overall result? (good? bad? indifferent?)
- Was this particular project worthwhile? or was it a waste of time?
- In your experience, did you find that Angels helped you with your finances?
- Did you find that Angels helped you with other situations and circumstances?
- Have you changed your ideas and opinions about Angelic Assistance as a result of this project? If so, how?
- Do you believe that Angels are real? or are they imaginary?
- What was your favorite exercise?
- What was your least favorite part of the project?
- Will you continue to ask Angels to assist you with problems and situations in your life?
- Would you recommend Angelic Assistance to others?
- Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Seeds For Thought
Yesterday I spent a little bit of time talking about time … this morning I’m floundering around unsure about where to take us next, so I’m going to share some of the thoughts I had during my morning meditation.
It occurred to me that time is like a seed, it starts out compressed and organized and then it explodes into something that cannot and will not ever be put back into that tight little package.
This is also a perfect example of how life might work. In the beginning, before we are born, maybe we are just an idea, a tight little package, neatly organized and full of possibilities. And then we get planted. And with the right conditions, just like a seed, our experience of life explodes just a little bit and a tiny root begins to extend out and down looking for nourishment and a home base. At the same time, we begin to extend up and out reaching for possibilities, the larger world. And there’s this huge drive to be more than we are right now, an irresistible push to expand and grow and be everything we can be.
So this brings up lots of interesting questions:
- Who has the original idea?
- Is there a larger me out there in the void of the unknown?
- Who really plants that little seed?
- Is there any way to look out past the known world and see the larger picture?
- Could I possibly be a random thought? Unfinished and unplanned?
If we take this metaphor a little further, we realize that it really does matter what family you were born into, and where, and when. For example, last year I planted an ambitious container garden. I went to the greenhouse and bought a bunch of flowers and herbs. I just got the ones I wanted without paying any attention to how big they would get, or what sort of sunlight and soil they might need to thrive.
Here’s what happened.
The mint grew like crazy! I don’t know who ate the carnations, but they were the first to go. Rabbits munched away on the impatiens but they managed to hold their own for quite a while, unlike the marigolds which surprised me by disappearing rather quickly. The lavender loved her spot, and did really well.
The coleus turned into a huge giant that totally overpowered the patchouli. He was really pretty, but he was also kind of a bully. Some of the scented geraniums did really well, others not so much. The rose bush was spectacular. The dahlia’s sprawled all over the place, made some really wonderful flowers, and then suddenly died.
I didn’t think the wildflower seeds I planted would ever grow, and when they finally did they were weak and spindly and only 2 zinnias and a handful of cosmos survived. My morning glories were beautiful, but they had a hard time figuring out what to grow up onto and tended to get into a tangled mess.
Clearly it matters not only where you are planted but who you are planted next to, and obviously stuff will happen like too much rain, 105 degree heat, hail storms, ice and snow, rabbits, mice, and deer. This sounds a lot like life to me.
Who are you in the Garden of Life?
I’ve always thought that if I was a flower, I’d be a Morning Glory, climbing all over stuff, blooming in the sun, dropping seeds all over the place. Then come winter, the first hard freeze, and I’m out of here. If I was a tree, I’d be a Hedge Tree… strong, old, gnarly, prickly, maker of a messy fruit that dinosaurs loved but no one else cares for too much.
I also feel that I was fortunate in that I was planted in a family, a time, and a place that made me strong and forced me to reach really deep, and hold really tight to what matters.
Something To Think About
What about you? If you were a plant, what kind of a plant would you be?
What if if this metaphor about life and seeds is true, does this mean that I cannot change my essential nature any more than a weakly cosmos could become a big strapping coleus? And would I even want to? Does the cosmos even think once about how it wishes it could be mint? or a morning glory? or a rosebush? And even if it did, what would be the point? It is what it is. Right?
And does this mean that I am who I am because I am who I am and that I will not change into someone else no matter how much I might want it to? Does it also mean that it might not be my fault if I don’t thrive and grow in the directions that I feel I should be thriving and growing? That circumstances and situations might have a limiting effect on my aspirations, goals, hopes, and dreams?
My little flowers and herbs did their absolute best to grow and thrive in the environment I gave them. And that’s what we do, right? Even when our best isn’t quite good enough, even when circumstances beat us down, even when we know we are doomed to failure, we still keep on keeping on being us… being our essential selves, because that’s who we are, and how can we be anyone else?
A Look Back
Sadly, it looks like our Five Simple Things project is coming to the end of our 30 days. Now it’s time to take a look back and make note of what happened as we worked the project. Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling:
- Did you enjoy this project?
- What was your favorite part?
- Do you think you will continue with one or more of the five simple things?
- Has your life changed in any way in the last 30 days?
- Any insights or comments you’d like to share?
Your comments are deeply appreciated, and might be really helpful for anyone who happens to stumble into this small room on the world wide web. So, please, don’t be shy… You don’t need to put your email into the comment boxes. You don’t even have to give your name. I purposely made it super easy to put your two cents in. So, come on guys, set the comments section on fire.
Five Simple Questions
So, yesterday I shared a list of questions triggered by my rewrite of our Five Simple Things. And then I thought that maybe it might be fun to rewrite our five things as a simple question. Here they are:
- How would it feel to say “Thank You” three times before you get out of bed in the morning?
- What if you used your bath, or shower to shine up your aura?
- If you bless your morning coffee (or tea) with good vibes, and then drink them in, does something change for you?
- What if the act of unlocking or opening actually activated greater unlocking and openings?
- How would it feel, if at bed time, you simply let go of the day’s stresses and drama?
These are nice, don’t you think? It makes me want to actually try them and see what the answers are… which is interesting, because now that we are almost at the end of our project, I’m wanting to really do it!
What If?
I have really enjoyed rephrasing our Five Simple Things. It gave my overactive brain something to do and raised a lot of interesting questions. I thought I would share all those questions here, in one spot, and maybe even come up with a few more while I’m at it. Here goes:
- Is there anything in my life, or on my mind that might look and feel completely different if I changed all the words around?
- What if the first words that come out of your mouth every morning were “Thank You”?
- How would it feel to say “Thank You” to every item in your home that is functioning properly?
- How would it feel to say “Thank You” to every item in your home that isn’t functioning properly?
- What if you went outside and asked the benevolent sun to be your shining guardian?
- What if shimmering sparkles followed you wherever you went?
- What if everything you touch sparkled and shined because you touched it?
- What if everything you said and did brought a lovely brilliance into the situation?
- What if everything you brew, stew, bake, or make was a magickal potion designed to bring health, happiness, prosperity, peace… (whatever it is that you are wanting to conjure up)?
- What would happen if you knew for certain that whatever you put it into your body, would have a profound effect?
- What if the act of cooking and eating was magickal and transformational?
- If cooking becomes conjuring, what that would look like… is it even possible?
- What if I kept it simple inside my brain, for at least a small part of the day… what would that look like?
- What if it looked like me actually being in the actual moment in my actual body… Wow! Imagine that!
- What if everything I said, or did, was just simple?
- What if everything could be easy and simple?
- Would it would be fun to be simple?
- How would your life change if you let go of all the bullshit, consciously, at least once a day?
- What if every night you made a small effort let go of all your agony, angst, regret, and self recrimination?
- What if you let go of all your “stuff” even just for a really short moment?
- How would it feel to be free and unlimited?
I could go on and on. But now I want to hear from you guys. Do you have questions to add? Do you have answers? What?
Scintillating Resplendent and Brilliant
Continuing my exploration of what each of our Five Simple Things would look like if it was worded differently, I came up with a really fun alternative to the boringly ordinary thing #2, which is: “When showering, visualize shimmering gold water with protective light filling up your aura.”
I like this one a lot better! It’s very dramatic…
Upon inundation with water
In the bath,
Conjure up scintillating resplendent brilliance
Stuffing the atmosphere surrounding you
With a shining guardian.
Doesn’t this just make you want to jump into the shower or bathtub right now? And if not that, what if you went outside and asked the benevolent sun to be your shining guardian? And what if shimmering sparkles followed you wherever you went? What if everything you touch sparkled and shined because you touched it? And what if everything you said and did brought a lovely brilliance into the situation?
How Did We Do?
Now that our 30 days of harnessing the power of the sun has come to a close, it’s time to look back and think about what, if anything, has changed in your life as a result of this project. Here is a short list of questions:
- Did you follow this project?
- What, if anything, did you find helpful?
- Do you have any favorite posts or ideas?
- What was your least favorite part of this project?
- Did anything change in your life as a result of working with the power of the Sun?
- Is there anything else you’d like to say or share? Insights? Ideas? Inspirations?
As always, I deeply appreciate any and all comments.
Sun Meditation
At sunrise, sit facing the sun. Meditate on light, on the dawning of a new day. Ask yourself what it is you wish to bring into your life. Thank the sun for illuminating your path.
At sunset, watch the sun as it disappears over the horizon. Reflect on your day and the coming darkness.
- What shadow aspects of your being do you need to confront?
- What do you want to release, or complete in your life?
- What do you need to work on in your night dreams?
Give thanks and make an offering to Father Sun; receive his blessings and gifts.
From: Circle of Song
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