Mindfulness Monthly Memo | September Issue
This month’s theme is “Self-Care September,” which focuses on practicing self-acceptance and self-compassion. Self-acceptance includes recognizing and understanding your personal strengths, while self-compassion involves being kind to yourself and being comfortable with who you are. When we practice self-care skills, we improve our mental health by boosting our self-esteem and resiliency and lowering levels of stress, anxiety, or depression.
Research shows that there are four sources of energy that self-care revolves around, including the food we eat, our quality of sleep, breathwork and physical activity, and state of mind. When we care for ourselves by eating nutritious foods, prioritizing quality sleep, taking time to move our bodies daily, talking to ourselves with kindness, and pursuing interests that bring joy or build a sense of connectedness to oneself, we are practicing self-care. However, for most people, self-care tends to fall at the bottom of the priority list due to busy schedules and putting others’ needs ahead of our own. In this case, it is important to remember the self-compassion component of self-care, which emphasizes valuing ourselves enough to purposefully engage in quality self-care despite struggling or having low self-esteem. Furthermore, when we acknowledge that we are feeling unwell or burnt out and choose to purposefully engage in self-care, we are building our resiliency and ability to support ourselves through challenges that come our way.
To start implementing genuine self-care into your own life and help improve your mental health, physical health, self-esteem, and well-being, try one or more of the following practices suggested by Psychology Today:
Prioritize “quality” in your life, including quality food, sleep, and time to connect with loved ones and yourself.
Pay attention to your thoughts and challenge any negative self-talk, fears, or feelings of inadequacy as you notice them.
Be nice to yourself as you are to others rather than critiquing yourself.
Start saying no to others when you recognize your energy is running low and you are struggling. Prioritize your own needs and take the time to take care of yourself.
Stay connected to yourself and engage in activities that bring you joy or happiness, even if the experience is brief.
Appendix
Vermani, M. (2023, February 22). The Connection Between Self-Care and Mental Health. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/a-deeper-wellness/202302/understanding-the-mental-health-and-self-care-connection