How Do You Take Care of You?

I had lunch yesterday with a very dear friend who is going through some challenging times. Like too many other parents out there in today's world, she has a young child with Pervasive Development Disorder (an autism spectrum disorder.) In addition, her youngest child is having some health problems. She is a stay-at-home mother that does it all and is feeling the burden of doing it with very little support.

We sat at our round booth table (they are so great for feeling like you are alone and the rest of the world is not there) and talked about how hard it is to have a special needs' child. We seem to always catch each other when one of us is down and the other is up. This is a good thing since we would be no good to each other if we were both down. Yesterday, I was the one "up" and she was the one "down."

As we talked about trying to do it all, I asked her what she did for herself. Her response was "Do my volunteer work." In addition to having a special needs child and a demanding 3-year old, she does extensive volunteer work. But I asked her again, "What do you do for YOU? What do you do to get quiet, shut out the world, and just BE?" And she didn't have a response.

I have found that spending just a few minutes a week being quiet--not reading, not researching, not ~GASP~ searching the internet--can make all the difference with my mind, body and spirit. I choose to take those very precious moments and meditate. I found some good CDs that taught me how to meditate, how to open my mind, my crown chakra, and now I can do it without the CDs. And I can do it for 10-20 minutes just a couple of times a week, and feel great. You might choose to enjoy your quiet time first thing in the morning, just before you got to bed, outdoors or with your pet(s), but if you're not doing SOMETHING, then you need to.

I would love to hear what you're doing to take care of you. And if you're not, why not start now? You're the only you you've got.