When I read Magpie Girl's *8 Things post this week I felt compelled to participate. As I mentioned in my last post this is finals week. My stress level is exacerbated by finals. Sometimes it is all I can do to stay grounded and trusting in the goodness that is all around me. Stress from school tends to affect my emotions in a way that I am not proud of, I tend to get incredibly bitter, all the little things that on a normal day I could process through with no problems seem to come to culminate in what Anne Lamott would describe as "Mental Illness." As I navigate through my education career I have become more and more aware of these patterns and am slowly becoming better equipped at dealing with them in a healthy and positive manner. One B-I-G way for me to gently take care of myself when my stress gets high like this is to part-take in self care. I have come to see that this is of the utmost importance for my wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of those around me (including the wee babe inside of me). Here are my top eight self care essentials, in no particular order:

1. Meditation- These last three days I have meditated at least once a day, and each day has been different! The first two times it was right before bed, so I could slow down my mind to sleep. Yesterday it was in the middle of the day. I was having trouble focusing on getting started on my final paper for South Asian Culture & Society, so I revisited a lesson Goddess Leonie taught during my Creative Goddess eCourse a few months ago. It was all about Sacred Stucknesses, and it was just exactly what I needed!
   As I mentioned, each time I meditate it is different. I start by sitting quietly, sometime with some music or white noise sounds, and then I listen to what my heart is sharing with me. Sometimes it is saying to use a mantra, sometimes a self-affirmation, sometimes to focus on my breath, sometimes to just listen. Whatever it is, I try to acquiesce. Here is a great piece on breaking out and breaking through to a meditation that works for you!
2. Mother Nature- It is incredibly important to my all around health and wellbeing to partake in some aspect of Mother Nature at least once a day. This can be as simple as walking the dogs around the block or focusing my camera on some minute aspect of beauty I see. Sometimes it is an all day jaunt to an enchanted woods or river (those are especially healing days). If I stay cooped up in the house too long I get really angsty and grumpy!
3. Water- Water is so cleansing. I read a piece by Anne Lamott, in Grace Eventually, that stated when she was feeling some emotional hardship she drank more water because it "moves things" (p. 130). This has stayed with me, and when I feel particularly stuck about something I up my water dosage. It simple and good.
4. Rest- As my body is changing with pregnancy I am becoming more and more aware of its need for rest. Before I was growing a baby I could ignore things like tiredness, maybe pass over them with some caffeine even. Now there is not way around this physiological reminder that I must regenerate. Rest is key to my wellbeing, whether it be going to sleep earlier, sleeping in later, or taking a nap through the day. I must listen to my body, or else I reap uncomfortable consequences like achy, grumpy bones and a sour mind.
5. Journaling- Journaling has saved my life in the past month. There have been particularly rough days where I take my journal wherever I go and write everything that comes to mind. Sometimes the only way through is to get it all out.
6. Creative Work- This can be big or small, loud or quiet, complex or simple. Anything that allows the right side of my brain to work. Being in school causes me left-brain-overload. Sometimes it just takes editing a photograph or doodling a picture to get me back to some sort of level.
7. Talk Time- I internalize, A LOT, and this is very detrimental to my wellbeing. I have to consciously be aware of creating safe times to talk things out with Josh, even if the issues seems small, if I keep them inside too long they get REALLY BIG. And when they get REALLY BIG I'm in danger of holding them in longer, because they seem too intimidating to deal with, and then they get UNBEARABLE! So, daily talk times are important, keep the little stuff little.
8. Grace- Grace is such a fluid concept but to me it has come to mean a gentle way in which I talk to myself. As a recovering perfectionist I tend to be really, really hard on myself. I am learning a new way to communicate to me, which involves gentle understanding. For example, yesterday while working on my final paper there were times when I would have to take a break-- get a snack, read a blog, daydream a little. If I were talking to myself the way I used too, I would berate these actions, I would feel shameful for not focusing 100% on my paper, I would feel like a bad person. Yesterday I recognized that I needed a break from studying and I gracefully accepted if I allowed myself this time I would be able to focus better, be in a better mindset, when I came back to working on my paper.

So, these are some of my self care essentials! I'd love to hear some of yours. Play along with Magpie Girl.