Tag: nurture yourself

Create Your Own “Soul Therapy Box” for TTC Self Care

Soul Therapy Box.

A little space for you to retreat to when you need some extra love.

Fill it with gentle things to comfort, ground and restore your soul on those difficult days when life feels so hard.

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Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

 

How do you keep breathing through your hardest moments?

You know those days, the ones where you’re feeling triggered, where anxiety runs high and your heart is heavy with grief and longing? Those days where the stress of trying is taking toll on your tired body and you don’t know how to stay strong, positive or hopeful anymore?

Are you able to meet yourself with kindness?

You often tend to be hardest on yourself during those sticky moments when you’re plagued by feelings of inadequacy and are slipping slowly into the depths of despair. Yet, that is the very instance when you need to soften, breathe deeper and lean into the mothering energy of the inner nurturer.

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Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

In my last blog post, I wrote about identifying your restorers – the soothing things that you can reach for when you are feeling depleted. Building on that foundation, a ‘soul therapy box’ is simple idea that serves a similar purpose since it is a self-care tool you can turn to when you’re in need of comfort and restoration.

I keep exploring different ways to integrate *TTC self-care rituals into daily life. I feel that this sort of practice is an integral part of creating balanced in our lives and restoring some semblance of harmony within. Emotional/mental distress is a very real by-product of a difficult (and sometimes traumatic) fertility journey, so having the right kind of support is important (both professionally and personally). It’s just as important to create supportive tools and healing strategies for ourselves in order to cope better. That means creating space to show up for YOU when you’re in a place of vulnerability, space to nurture yourself and to offer your inner self the balm it needs when the going gets tough. This is exactly what keeping a ‘soul therapy box’ has allowed me to do for myself. I’ll add that I recently created boxes for a few of my soul sisters who have experiencing a lot of stress lately as well. I was really moved by their overwhelming feedback, because it reinforced just how effective a self-care tool the simple act of keeping a ‘soul therapy box’, ‘care package’ or ‘rescue me kit’ is. In a small way it lessened their mental load, gave each of them permission to carve out more space to tend to/restore their well-being and inspired them to keep cultivating a daily practice of self-love. It really has reminded me once more, not to underestimate the profound impact that taking little steps to be there for yourself can have.

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What to include in your Soul Therapy Box:

You can include anything that you find calming, grounding and that helps bring you back to your centre. Here are some ideas of what works well for me:

  • Rescue Remedy (Bach Flower Essences) – I always think of flower essences as a gentle hug for my heart
  • Calming Essential Oils (Lavender – for relaxing baths, Geranium + Chamomile for my oil burner)
  • Soothing Tea (brewing a pot and taking a moment to breathe as I sip a cup is a therapeutic forms of meditation)
  • Gentle crystals to meditate with/calm my mind
  • A Love Letter/Pep talk to Myself (I found some beautiful botanical print cards to write some love letters to myself in. Think of all the encouraging things you’d say to one of your TTC sisters going through similar to what you are right now, then write all of that down in a heartfelt love letter to yourself. Write down everything you love about yourself + everything you have to feel proud of so that it fills you with good vibes/happy feelings when you read it in your time of need.)
  • Bath oils + Facial masks + Skin care treats for a little bit of pampering 
  • A Mini-Gratitude Journal – It’s so helpful to shift your attention to all the wonderful things that are already in your life when you’re feeling a little low. 
  • Remember to keep refilling your soul therapy box so that you continue to enjoy a nurturing routine that supports your well-being.

I added some nice chocolates to the boxes that I made for my friends (though not to mine since I’m trying to manage my PCOS/hormones/Insulin). So the idea is to find whatever will work best for you, whatever helps lift your spirit and restore your inner resources. When your self-care is a regular practice, then you begin to offset the effects of prolonged stress and distress that could otherwise become overwhelming. And while there are so many factors that are outside of your control, it feels empowering to know that you can take mindful actions to guide yourself back a place of balance in small but nurturing ways.

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Have you tried this out? What other supportive routines/daily rituals do you turn to nurture your well-being while TTC? Please share your experiences and ideas in the comments (or use the hashtag – #ttcselfcare on Instagram. 

 

[ *TTC – Trying to Conceive ]

Create a Crystal Grid for Nurturing Support and Self-Love

Are you flowing gently today? At the end of a long demanding week, it’s a gift to be able to exhale and come back to the essence within.

I’ve always known how to show up for others, how to be a friend and a nurturer. But like too many women, one of my great struggles has been to show up for and nurture myself. Fortunately the shifts that have taken place in my life in recent years have set in motion a learning curve that’s led me to approach myself in gentle ways, soothing ways that fill me up. I’ve understood that in order to feel loved and supported in my life, I need to love and support myself first. The deeper I drive into my spiritual practice and learn to apply various healing or empowering principles in my life, the easier it becomes to remember and honour my own worth.

Even so, I still have my off days.

We all go through rough patches. We’re faced with stresses, illness or various other life challenges.

We have those days where our shadows rise and we lose touch with our truth or feel disconnected from Spirit. You have those days where you forget how to be strong, or how to be compassionate with yourself. There are moments when you feel abandoned, stressed out and question why certain things are happening to you.

What I’ve learnt is that those very moments where you don’t know how to love youself are exactly when you need to be there for YOU in a bigger way, practise radical self-love and draw on Spirit for extra support.

For those who are open to working with crystals, one way to draw in the energy of love and light when you are stuck in the midst of struggle is to create a crystal grid for nurturing self-compassion. What I love about crystal grids is that once they’ve been created with a specific intention, they hold the vibration of your intention so that you or the person who you’ve created it for, keep on receiving the loving or healing vibes.

self-love grid 2

Few things carry the energy of love the way rose quartz crystals do. When I work with rose quartz, I always think of them as little light workers who’ve spent eons embedded in the Earth absorbing love’s vibration so that could share them with us some day. So they are the perfect allies whose energy you draw on for this crystal grid. Since I like to keep things simple, the grid that I’ve created is a very basic, but still very effective in my experience.

What you’ll need:

  • Rose quartz crystals (I’ve used 8 in my grid)
  • A photo of yourself
  • A sacred space to lay the grid where it will not be disturbed

 How to Create the Crystal Grid

  • Sit quietly, relax and centre yourself.
  • Ask yourself: What do you need right now? Love? Acceptance? Peace? To feel supported? Listen to the answers that rise from you inner essence.
  • Focus on the feeling that you want to experience. What does self-love or acceptance feel like? What does being nurtured or supported feel like? Tap into the energy of this feeling. Now set the intention to offer that to yourself through the crystal grid that you are creating.
  • Lay down the photo of yourself on the surface where you are creating the grid and then lay the crystals one by one around the picture in a circle. As you lay each piece, visualise loving white light flowing from the centre of the Universe, through you and into the grid.
  • When you’ve laid out the grid, spend a few moments focused on your intention and continue to charge it by sending love and white light energy to the grid.

self-love grid

You can keep the crystal in place for a few days or a few weeks depending on how long you feel you need it for. You can also add additional touches that resonate with you. I felt called to place two pink roses over my photo because they have a special place in my heart. They remind me to recognise my own inner beauty and to love and accept myself. Whenever you feel down or unloved, visualise yourself receiving uplifting love energy from the grid.

You can also create one for a friend or family member who is ill, going through a tough time or are in need in some way. Simply use a photo of them and use the same process to send them love and white light.

If you do decide to experiment with this, please to let me know what the experience is like for you. I’d love to hear from you.

May the love and wisdom of Mother Earth and Goddess keep guiding you to a place of light and healing.