Practice Self Care and Lose That Weight

If I had a dollar for every time I come across a client who has an issue with putting themselves first, I would be a billionaire! In all seriousness, there is no question that in the western world we are brought up to believe that to place emphasis on ourselves is ....(wait for that seven letter word)....selfish! And 'selfish' is bad, undesirable and cardinally sinful! I encourage you to consider what selfish really means. The Encarta English (U.K.) dictionary defines it as: • Looking after your own desires; • Concerned with your own interests, needs and wishes while ignoring those of others. The first part of the definition is more palatable, but the second part is where we see why we may be taught to avoid being selfish. To be 'concerned with your own interests, needs and wishes' is acceptable however to do this 'while ignoring those of others' is where the negative connotation of selfish is understood. So what is the word for looking after your needs and desires while still taking others' needs into consideration? Is it 'balanced' or 'healthy' or 'satisfied'? None of these words seems to capture this concept.... This definition of selfish makes me recall a quote by Shakti Gawain*: 'Because human nature is basically loving, many of us will not allow ourselves to have what we want so long as we believe that we might be depriving others in order to do so. We have to understand in a deep way that living a fulfilling life contributes to the general state of human happiness and inspires and supports others to create more happiness for themselves.' What is wrong with actually taking time out to work out what our needs are, and then seek to meet them? I challenge you to consider a world where all of us take regular time to assess our lives, including our needs and desires, work out what we can do to attain what we need and want and then work towards it. Wouldn't the world be a better place? I bet that dysfunctional relationships would be dramatically reduced as people would no longer surreptitiously seek to get their needs met via another person. I believe that our health would improve as a society as we would be taking the time to look after ourselves in a preventative manner rather than waiting until we are so sick that we are bed ridden or disease infested. I am almost certain that obesity and weight issues would dramatically drop as people would be getting their needs and desires met instead of using food as a way of repressing emotional and spiritual urges. They would also take the time to nourish themselves well in the first place, to exercise in the way that they require it, and to rest when they need to. Find a healthy, fit person who is happy with their body and I guarantee you that they have become very good at practicing self care. Find an unhappy, overweight person and you will see someone who on some level is wrestling with giving themselves permission to meet their needs and make their dreams come true. So after having this realisation I have set my self a challenge - to practice self care every day. To me this means being very aware of the choices I make through the day, and to check if they are supporting me. Specifically, this means eliminating coffee and chocolate because although I enjoy them at the time, they ultimately drain me of energy. It also means going to bed earlier, skipping the TV and getting up in time to meditate and stretch before my son wakes up. It means booking exercise and down time into my diary. I am only on day 3 but I already feel like I am on the right track..... * www.shaktigawain.com