There is a mass awareness growing. Wellness is important. It is trendy, even, where I live in Hollywood. Turmeric signs line the streets of Los Angeles.
Yoga, meditation, green smoothies, exercise and gluten-free— even feng shui! Its all exploding in popularity and that is exciting.
It can also be overwhelming.
More important that what you do to take care of yourself specifically is the spirit in which you do it.
Did you do something today to take care of yourself? Did you enjoy it?
Today’s feng shui is all about taking care of yourself in the spirit of creating real wellness. It’s all about allowing yourself to do the things that truly make you feel good.
Simplifying your self-care will help it to actually WORK for you! If you are in the midst of “trying to get healthy” or making a big shift in your attitude or your stress level, the last thing you need is another set of rigorous routines that add more stress!!!
Taking care of yourself is supposed to feel good.
I will say it again: taking care of yourself is supposed to feel good.
I see it every day: people who hate yoga who go and force themselves through the classes. The funny faces people make at the tonic bar near my house, choking down elixirs that feel awful to consume. The brutal workouts that are done in a punishing way in the extreme heat of a heatwave. The home organization done to such rigorous measures that a house feels like a puzzle rather than a flow.
I happen to love yoga, my own style of organization, tonics and Buddhist chanting. I don’t love running, soul-crushing workouts or hyper-scheduled days. I once forced myself to train for a marathon: I got very sick. Hospital sick. I forced myself into brutal training: I quit. I tried doing Kundalini when it was an early trend in LA: total fail. Almost passed out. Kept trying, and kept feeling like a failure.
My conclusion: self-care is not something that should suck!
Three fail-safe ways to make your life better, right now, are very basic. Deceptively basic. Each is extremely powerful, so you may want to really look at each one:
1. Do what you enjoy. I was gratefully invited to the LA premiere if a film that a friend was featured in called “The Connection”. It is mind-body healing explored through case studies of people who overcame very serious illnesses. The most poignant to me was a person who did “all the right things” but had a heart attack at the gym that nearly killed him at a young age. His realization: He needed to do what he loved.
It is extremely stressful to not follow your dreams. You don’t need to become a full-time painter to get the benefits of painting in free time you create to paint. You don’t need to be a master of a craft to start practicing it today.
Why not make doing more of what you love a part of your wellness plan? This is powerful. This changes lives!
It is also extremely stressful to force yourself into any diets or exercise or anything that doesn’t feel right. The stress and upset caused by anything that doesn’t agreee with you far negates any benefit you get from forcing yourself through it!
2. Take care of what you have. I know you might want a mansion and a better car and a bunch of stuff… but wellness and prosperity in a way that has a sustainable impact seems to happen faster when you take care of what you have. When is the last time you updated your computer (yes, this counts!) or washed your windows, groomed your dog or dry cleaned your comforter? The little things matter in a huge way. See what happens when you take care of what you have.
I bet you will have: less stress. And: more abundance.
3. Do it for the long-haul. A weekend yoga retreat is great… but that’s not a lifestyle. Not unless you can fly away a few weekens a month! So, design yourself wellness that you can keep up with, no matter where you are. A juice cleanse is fun and great: it is not a lifestyle. Creating habits you can maintain are far more valuable than life hacks.
If you want to hear a very powerful story of why life hacks do not work, THIS talk by Rich Roll will open your eyes to the very powerful difference between a quick fix and major life breakthroughs!
So… now the two part question one more time:
Did you do something today to take care of yourself? Did you enjoy it?
It is fun. Allow yourself to have it. It is supposed to feel good to do good things for yourself!!!
xoxo Dana
A big P.S.: The Cash Camp is HERE.
Eight weeks of fortune-building Feng Shui to get your money in order & your wealth growing starts now.
Much love to you Dana. Great blog as always. You’re such a giving person, and I am grateful for this peaceful, colorful space.
I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately I have learned this the hard way but now that I have things are finally moving in the right direction 🙂