My 2011 Word Theme – Self-Care

Creating a word theme for 2011 is a simpler way to have a focus for the year. However, just creating the word is not going to bring the focus. There is some thought and action that has to take place as well. So I decided to brainstorm a little with my word Self-Care.

I put the word self-care at the top of the page of a piece of paper and just started  listing out things that I would consider nourishing to me and ultimately be considered self-care by my definition. I have done this before in an exercise I call a nourishment menu, however when I did it for just the word self-care I came up with a lot more things which surprised me a little.

Since I am planning on sharing with you how I incorporate self-care in my life more naturally I thought it would be a good idea to share with you my list as to where I am starting from. This might be something you would enjoy doing as it really brought it to the forefront for me. Just spending 5 minutes writing the list out really helped me see that I do have room for improvement on self-care. Some of the things that showed up on my list unfortunately I have not done in a while.

My list for self-care:

• Journaling
• Acupuncture
• Date night with my husband
• Watching a movie at home or a good TV show
• Reading a book
• Reading a magazine
• Meditation
• Tea with a friend
• Playing games with my kids
• Hiking
• Taking a bike ride
• Sitting outside
• Gardening – digging in the dirt
• Lunch with a friend
• A lunch date with my husband
• Browsing a book store
• Painting on a canvas
• Reading inspiring blogs
• Writing
• Taking a nap outside
• Trying a new restaraunt
• Praying
• Going to the movies
• A massage
• A reiki session
• Cooking with music playing
• Yoga
• Dancing
• Singing – especially in the car
• Organizing my photo’s into albums (yes I still get prints and I do enjoy organizing them lol)
• Framing new pictures for my hallway gallery (I have a hallway in my house that I use as my gallery of pictures I take of nature mostly)
• Explore a new store that looks really interesting
• Laying out and catching some rays
• Participating in a workshop that sounds interesting to me
• Trying something new
• Going to see something in the arts (a concert, a musical . . . something along those lines)

Try putting your word of the year at the top of a blank piece of paper and then just start writing. Mine turned into a list but yours might be sentences . . . don’t judge how it turns out just let yourself write whatever comes up. Have fun!