Precious life

The niece has left along with another nephew. She stayed for a couple of weeks in my office, my private retreat...With a few boundaries I set for myself things worked out pretty well. I tried to keep my meeting schedule, kept myself out of her business and remained engaged in a schedule. For a woman such as myself enmeshment happened when I got close to others. The big challenge was minding my own buisness. After her surgery I took care of her for a couple of days making delicious soups, sandwiches and drinks. She loved this care and at times I enjoyed being of service to another.
But then after a few days I could feel a resentment brewing so I would leave my home to go to work or a meeting. It doesnt mean I am selfish to take care of myself. This is what I believed in the past taking care of me was secondary taking care of others was my first job.  I do care for others just not at the expense of my own care. My niece is a pretty smart young woman she has her whole life ahead of her.

Gratitude: For this precious human life I was given, learning to appreciate it and love myself and others.

Taking Care of Ourselves

Posted on 07/25/08, 03:00 am

From "Language of Letting Go" by Melody Beattie:

We often refer to recover from codependency and adult child issues as "self care". Self-care is not, as some may think a spin-off of the "me generation." It isn't self-indulgence. It isn't selfishness - in the negative interpretation of that word.

We're learning to take care of ourselves, instead of obsessively focusing on another person. We're learning self-responsibility, instead of feeling excessively responsible for others. Self-care also means tending to our true responsibilities to others; we do this better when we're not feeling overly responsible.

Self-care sometimes means "me first" but usually "me too". It means we are responsible for ourselves and can choose to no longer be victims.

Self-care means learning to love the person we're responsible for taking care of - ourselves. We do not do this to hibernate in a cocoon of isolations and self-indulgence; we do it so we can better love others and learn to let them love us.

Self-care isn't selfish; it's self-esteem.

Prayer for the day: Today, God, help me love myself. Help me let go of feeling excessively responsible for those around me. Show me what I need to do to take care of myself and be appropriately responsible to others.

It seems like a common theme in some of the posts lately are taking care of ourselves, and I know it's a common thought in my mind lately so I thought I would sharing this reading with everyone.