Thought by thought . . .

Learning to love ourselves is an ongoing, life journey,one I intend on writing much about. But it can start this moment. And it can continue thought by thought.

One of the surest ways to love ourselves is in coming to see we can manage what we think, our thoughts, in gentle, tender ways, like bathing an infant. 🙂

Here are a few simple dimple steps that enable us to do that:

1) Caring for our thoughts: From the moment we awake to the moment we rest, thought is ever active. Vital then is to nurture its focus and steer it in directions that support us. What helps me much is caring for my thoughts as I would an infant or my pupp-alove. I mentally dive into my thoughts and see what’s dancin around in there and gather them and steer them gently in the direction they need to be going. Gentle is key. Tender is vital.

2) Practice regular meditation: Whether we’re already meditating or whether we are new to it, developing a regular meditation practice helps us begin to actively care for our thoughts. This allows us to be more and more aware of what is going on in thought and more, helps us to set the agenda for thought to focus on.

Meditation can be simple — just a few moments throughout the day, or can be longer, and can be several times a day.  Making a regular practice of meditating allows us to calmly and thoughtfully intend our day and carry out or fullfil those intentions.

My favorite time to do this is right upon awaking and I actually find my favorite spot on the floor and hug my knees to my chest. But I’ve also meditated while I’m walking, on hold on the phone, or even while I’m driving and doing errands. It’s a thoughtful, focused time when we remind ourselves of the Divine Mind’s control of the universe and of every detail of our lives and remind ourselves of our intentions.

3) Evolving order: We all like order. It helps us stay organized. (imagine that!) It helps eliminate the angst that surfaces when we can’t find something. It helps us rinse the contacts with saline and NOT the disinfectant (ouch!) or know where is the puppa-love’s leash, the keys, the phone, the phone’s charger, and of course the laptop’s power chord. 🙂 In fact, the more order we create, the less we ever have to have those mini panic ‘where did I leave the dang ______(fill in the blank)‘ moments. And the less we’ll fall into that blame game self critical trap. This one’s simple: ordering the ‘stuff’ of our lives treats us gently in the long run.

4) Devote moments to maintaining a schedule that is right for us: A good friend used to say to me “I’m gonna start telling you a time that’s really 1/2 hour earlier than I want to meet because then I know you’ll be on time.” This friend meant well. He was helping me realize that I was striving to fit too much into the moments surrounding our meet up and consistently late for him. (And I might add I’ve been consistently late for a lot of people).

One of the most gentle loving things we can do for ourselves is maintain a schedule we can breathe with. Life gets busy. Stuff happens. Spontaneous good occurs. Maintaining a simple, good for us schedule, simply allows us to be prepared for the unexpected and on time for the expected. Again, none of us like that pressured feelin’ we get when we’re rushing around. Devoting our moments to an intended schedule really helps lessen the flurrying. Sticking with a few gentle routines throughout our day really helps treating our thoughts more tenderly in the long run.

Surely there’s loads more simpe steps we can all do to be gentle with our now moments.

What works for you? How are you practicing being more tender with yourself throughout your day?

Thanks muchly for bein’ here and sharin’….hugs til the next post. 🙂