Sabbath for Self Care

Today is my sabbath. It's been a few weeks since I last had an entire day that was unscheduled. In the best world, everyone would have one whole day each week to spend as we want; to stay in bed, read a good book, take a slow walk or do a crossword; one whole day to do no work, run no errands, send no emails, and clean no toilets.

I'm ready to settle into a sabbath frame of mind, and today my theme is self-care: I'm going to think about taking care of myself, and put some new practices into effect, because ... today is my birthday, and I want to indulge myself in a way that will promote health! 

Agenda today:

1. All day stillness meditation

2. Read Writing and Being

3. Journal exploration

4. Resolutions postcard for 2023

5. Self-Care ritual

6. Clean and clear the livingroom

1. All day stillness meditation:

Keeping a sabbath day is a personal thing. For me, it's a day with a slow pace, and everything I do has a flavor of peace. I schedule some work, but it's work I find fulfilling, or uplifting. Simple is a great word to describe my ideal activities for the Sabbath: Simple tasks, simple foods, and an undemanding schedule.

My perfect sabbath is a celebration, a holiday. I keep it holy with my attitude: I do not rush, complain, or worry. 

Today I plan to spend my whole day at home, read and write, go to Sunday Meeting (on zoom), take a bath, do some quiet sewing, and end the day with a zoom gathering with friends.

My theme this month is stillness, making space in my life for  that peaceful inner time to read, write, meditate, and pray. The yin of stillness balances my yang action. I've decided to honor stillness today by not talking very much all day long. I will move slowly and quietly about my tasks, and pause every 60-minutes to take a few minutes to stretch, breath, and say a short prayer: 

May I be at peace; may my community be at peace; may the earth be at peace.

2. Read Writing and Being

I'm reading from a book that has been sitting my shelf for a few years, "Writing and Being: Embracing Your Life Through Creative Journaling," by G. Lynn Nelson (2004).

The author says in the introduction, "Writing is a healing and creative journey back to the mystery and power of our words as an instrument of creation that came latent within us at birth. It is a path with a heart."

I'm reading chapter two: Entering the River, which is what the author calls it when you write from your heart and feelings. "...feeling is, always, our first experience of the world so we must begin with our feelings. Feelings are where our words become flesh; they are the grounding of our writing and being."

He goes on to say, "Personal writing in our journals is the heart of all our writing. There our words become tools for our psychological, intellectual, and spiritual growth. There, too, our individual insights, feelings, memories, and stories become the source of all meaningful and effective public writing -- gifts from our hearts to share with others".

3. Journal exploration:

The journal exploration for chapter two is called Fists into Flowers. This is my paraphrased version:

1. Breathe deeply. Relax. Just give attention to my breath for about 5 minutes.
2. Look within for what feels like a fist, something tight and clenched, a worry, or anger, frustration, or any holding on of pain.
3. Write about it: No analyzing, but just pouring it out on the page, anything that comes to me about this particular fist, for about 5 minutes.
4. Breathe again for about 5 minutes, and notice how the fist feels - is it tighter or looser?
5. Write again, steadily and freely, for another 5 minutes.

Keep repeating this alternating process as many times as I need for this particular fist, in order to eventually loosen the hold this fist.

4. Resolutions postcard for 2023:

As usual, I'm ready at the New Year to upgrade my health habits, take control of my moods, and have more discipline in general. I start with small steps that I can easily maintain, and stick to just a few specific, well-defined intentions. I like to make my goals visible, so I made this postcard.

5. Self-care ritual:

Self-care involves eating well, exercising, sleeping enough, staying within a budget, and taking time for renewal of my soul.  One of my New Years resolutions is to move more: To be less sedentary, to stretch, to set new and creative movement goals each week, and build my momentum for an active life.

I've found that having self-care rituals helps me to stay on track: When I have a routine I am more likely to maintain the discipline to just do it every day. And I've built in some movement every hour in the morning so I don't sit for hours in a row.

My daily routine for self care: 

6 am Stretching with a video. (My current favorite is the Yes2next Gentle Stretching for Seniors.)
7 am Get up to do a few household chores, then return to my desk to do a budget and savings check-in, or meal planning

8 am Go outside to say a prayer, then make myself breakfast

9 am Hygiene

11 am Grab my Go-bag with rain hat, gloves, and dog bags, and go out - rain or shine - for a walk. On days when I'm without a grandson, enjoy a walking meditation.

12 pm Lunch 

1 pm Nap!!

6. Clean and clear the living room:
Every year in January I kick off a month of deep cleaning. My house has certain mold-related issues that are best done before we get any deeper into winter. Also, this year I am compelled to clear out my storage areas, to symbolically make room for a new grandson.

I take it one room at a time, and this week I'll clean in the living room. Today, since it's my Sabbath, I'll kick off my cleaning with a ceremonial zen tidy: I'll clear off the surfaces and put away some toys.

Extra chores this week:

• Clean the leaves on the houseplants, and repot if needed.
• Wipe and dust the baseboards and clean the woodwork.
• Scrub the mold off of the windowsills with detergent and warm water, then apply Borax solution and do not rinse, to help prevent mold from growing again.
• Set up the baby bassinet!