#66 in a series of wild and precious things to help you gain self awareness
- TWIL (This Week I Learned)
This week was all about insight — or lack of it. And I hesitate to say I learned anything. Aren’t there those weeks where you can literally hear the screaming of the lesson intended for you and you still don’t learn anything?
That was this week.
So the idea is both gaining insight and being compassionate and kind to yourself when you just can’t seem to learn the lesson you’ve been handed by Life.
2. Quote
“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”
― Albert Einstein
“The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany.”
― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
3. Prompt
Have you ever tried to force an epiphany? Felt like insight was just out of reach?
My week was spent in a lot of diligent work, a lot of diligent attending to other people, a lot of necessary planning. And not much time for meandering walks or calm moments.
By Friday, I had heard enough times that I needed to take care of myself. My life coach actually took one look at me and said, “As soon as this call is over, you are going to put on your shoes, choose a playlist, and go on a half hour walk. I am going to email you in a half hour to find out that you did this.” She was *not* messing around. She was serious. I listened. She also knows my list of self care essentials. Walking is my first go-to.
And on the way down the hill I did, in fact, have the beginning of a small epiphany about much of what was going on for me this week. I did, actually, feel better. Etc.
Do you have an emergency self care kit? Do you have a list of things to do when you need to snap back into self-compassion, self-care?
Make one — Please.
I made a free short course to take you through the process because I think it is essential for everyone to have one.
If you don’t need a course, make a list on your own. But do it today so that you have things meant just for you for those moments when you forget to take care of yourself and need a quick dose of care.
If you don’t take care of yourself, you aren’t able to take care of others — and others are not able to take good care of you.
4. Quest
I love that quote from Rebecca Solnit. She’s such a powerhouse of a human — her writing is insightful, deep, and pragmatic.
That combination of errand with epiphany speaks volumes to me. Can you, this week, combine the mundane with the profound?
A meandering walk, washing dishes by hand, dusting, making beds, walking to the grocery store…
Mixed with letting your mind wander quietly, letting your thoughts be like clouds as they float through?
You may, or may not, have an epiphany.
5. Level-UP / Go Deeper
Being told that you need to take care of yourself can be challenging, in itself. I think it’s quite possible that I am not alone in bristling a bit when someone notices that I need to take care of myself.
How much I actually want to scream at them that of course I know this!
Has it ever happened where your instinct is the bite the messenger who tells you (in whatever way) that you really need to take care of yourself?
Isn’t that a bit silly? And also, completely understandable — It’s so incredibly difficult sometimes to take care of ourselves. And yet, that’s where the loop starts and finishes. We need to take that first few baby steps to take care of ourselves, so that we can take care of other people, and so that other people can take good care of us.
6. Video — Thandiwe Newton Finding Otherness
7. Course (First Chapter of “Walk In The Woods”— A journal/exercise book to open you up to new ways of seeing yourself and the world around you <= I need feedback on this — please let me know what you think of what I have done so far.)
8. Poem — (Olena Kalytiak Davis Least Said)
9. Hero: Rebecca Solnit — Writer, Historian, Activist
Why? Brilliant historian. Brilliant essayist.
10. Take Care of Yourself This Week and Share if you know someone who might like this. Please share with someone you think may enjoy this weekly.
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