Self-Soothing, Self-Nurturing - A Vital Skill And Practice

(Click on the title of the article to go to the full blog posting.  If you receive this email notice, it only includes a few lines to give you the basic idea...)

"So I put my hand on my heart and held that scared heart with a loving hand.  I put my other hand on my face and caressed it as a caring parent would."   Daniel Gottlieb, The Wisdom We Were Born With

When we begin to think that we are worthy of our own attention and love, we often have no clue about how to nurture or sooth ourselves.

But what often breaks the dam that holds us back is something as simple as:

Soothingly caressing our arm, shoulders, neck, and even "holding ourselves", as a separate loving person might.

And simply saying "there, there, all is well.  I will take care of you.  You are good and I love you."

At first that might seem awkward, but it is legitimate.  (The only downside I found to loving myself completely was that I had to keep cleaning off my lip marks on my mirror.)

Anyway, one piece, with its links, that one might consider reading and implementing would be Self-Nurturing, Self-Soothing - A Vital Skill And Practice.

When we start to do the actions of loving ourselves, we begin to free ourselves from the prison of self-criticism and blame.  And something beautiful comes in to replace them...

Keith