Are you feeling the weight of the world’s crises on your shoulders? If you have been marinating in uncertainty, outrage, or fear (or a combination of all three), it takes a toll on the psyche and the body. 

To keep our physical and mental containers strong, so we can be alert and responsive to the needs around and within us, taking care of ourselves is not optional – it’s necessary.

However, what we mean by “taking care of ourselves” needs some clarification. 

The Vedas teach that “self” is not confined to this body I inhabit – rather, I am but a small part of a larger whole. In fact, a truer statement of identity is that the larger whole is more “me” than I alone am.

I like to envision that each of us is held by a series of nesting bowls. I sit inside my body, which sits in a family, which is held by a neighborhood, which is inside a municipal community, etc. To care for “self,” I must tend all of the bowls my individual body sits in. 

Modern capitalism and commercialism teach us to think smaller – to only tend the smallest bowl right around my body. 

Vedic wisdom teaches us to recognize the largest bowl as the truest expression of self. When we really GET that truth, we naturally tend all the bowls.

At times, we need to retreat (the injured fox withdraws to its den to heal), but at other times, we need to deliberately emerge and flex. After an initial shock, remaining still breeds continued paralysis, whether it’s due to a lack of clarity of what to do, or fear of a possible outcome. We must intentionally shake off the paralysis.

We need muscular engagement and deliberate action to remember that we HAVE muscles and personal will – and small actions are a good place to start. 

Here are 3 categories of things we can do this weekend to take care of ourselves, with the widest definition of self. Choose one and do it in the next 48 hours.

1. Nourish your community 
   • Call a friend (using a phone!) and ask, “How are you really doing?” and just listen, no advice or fixing, just listen and tell them you love them.
   • Write a thank you note (a short one, try a post-it note) to your mail carrier, your child’s teacher, your neighborhood firefighters, your mother, or your cashier – someone who may not get a lot of acknowledgement for their service.
   • Take your dog for a walk – or your neighbor’s dog.
   • Contact a local organization for a cause that’s really personal to you. Call to make a donation (yes, you can probably donate online, but calling to donate makes the personal impact a little more real). Consider making the donation in honor of someone. Or find out when their next volunteer meeting is and put it on your calendar.

2. Care for your body
   • Buy ingredients to make a healthy meal, turn on good cooking music (try the soundtrack from Big Night, my favorite cooking movie from the 90’s), and savor the scents and flavors.
   • Go to bed extra early today or tomorrow, in preparation for losing an hour of sleep when Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday.
   • Massage your feet with oil before bedtime. Any organic oil will do, doesn’t have to be fancy. Olive oil is great!
   • Plan now to do the Spring Digestive Reset with me in a couple of weeks.

3. Take political action
   • Find the names of your elected officials by entering your address on this website: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials. Post the names on your refrigerator, or your office door, or somewhere in your phone where you’ll bump into it accidentally.
   • Write a brief personal manifesto statement, just for you, on “What a Government is For.” Articulate the values you stand for, and what’s important to you in communal life. What do you want to see reflected in the governing bodies around you? Get specific. Again, don’t do anything with this – it’s just for you, to remember. 
   • Call a local government official just to thank them for their service. No need to research anything, just share your appreciation for their efforts to look out for our community. 

Which one of these ideas tugs at your heart or has your name on it? Or does this bring an alternate action to mind? 

I’d really love to know what you’re inspired to do – action motivates more action, so please share your planned action in the Comments below.

Let’s keep taking care of ourselves.

xo