The most common symbol for health and self-care in current times is the face mask to help stop getting or giving COVID-19. Just as on an airplane, you have to take care of yourself first so you can balance the other important parts of your life.
You can’t help others if you’re trapped in a hamster wheel. Step out of that and take time for YOU.
And here again, I love to share a story with you. Most people have heard of Carl Jung, but not of Christoph Nauer, until now, right?
Carl Jung is a well-known person. He happens to have had a house on the Lake of Zurich. I grew up in Zurich, but not on the Lake. I’ll use his real name in this story.
One day Carl Jung got a phone call from a very influential person and she said I need to meet you on Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Carl gently said “I’m sorry I cannot meet you at that time. I already have an appointment.” She was not happy at all.
She happened to be out on the Lake, boating by his house on Wednesday afternoon at that particular time. Lo and behold, there Carl was sitting in his backyard, dangling his feet in the water. Now, she was outraged. When she got home, she called him up and said, “How dare you? You lied to me. You
didn’t have an appointment. I saw you sitting in the backyard dangling your feet in the water.”
Carl gently said, “No, I did not lie to you. I had the most important appointment of the week, an appointment with myself.”
And I’d like to take that little story a step further. Let’s have an appointment with ourselves, not once a week, but once a day. Go dangle your feet!
Write three things on post-it notes that you’ll do for yourself to recharge your batteries. Decide to do at least one of them regularly and post that one in places where you see it every day.
Again, I’m using a story to let you know that what I’m offering you is not only something that I make up in my head. This is supported by famous people like Carl Jung.
You could even do as Carl Jung did and take a complete break from time to time.
How does this look to you?
How many times have you said to yourself, “I need a vacation!” How many times have you put it off? How many “shoulds” stand in the way of you taking a break?
Anna was having a hard time because she was not getting enough sleep.
I asked her, “Well, what time should you be in bed and ready to go to sleep?”
She picked 11p.m.
I said, “Okay. How long does it take for you to get ready for bed? You know, do you have some kind of a ritual that you do every day?”
She said it probably took half hour.
I told her, “Okay. Set an alarm for 10:30 to get ready for bed.”
That sounds silly. Right? But the chance of her actually doing that significantly improved if she got an alert at 10:30.
She got used to the idea that the alarm was saying, “It’s time for you to
stop. You’re going to get ready for bed and go to bed. You need your sleep.” What self care help can your clock give you?
