Psychological self-care can mean different things to different people.
What is self-care?
Or rather, what is self-care for you?
For me - self-care is about living MY life. The life where I remember to have dreams, ambitions, being happy and fulfilled.
All other descriptions and types of self-care, such as, remembering to be kind to yourself, looking after your body and many other useful items - still apply here. But for me, they come as a foundation. Real self-care is about knowing and living your truth.
I call motivation self-care. I also believe that healthy ambition and drive forms part of self-care.
Living to the fullest, living without regrets - that's self-care for me.
1. Visualising your dream life
Turn your self-care into reality by visualising your dream life.
This is one of the most enjoyable self-care activities. You can spend time first daydreaming and then actively manifesting or visualising a life you want for yourself.
Visualising and manifestation is not just a buzzword for lazy people. If you know what you want, if you can imagine what you want, the chances are you will achieve what you want. That's the beauty of visualisation. It helps our brain to get used to what we want to achieve. And once we start making active steps towards that dream, because dreams without actions are empty, that's when your brain can help you a lot. Trained by visualisation, it will not sabotage you. It might even actively help you.
2. Practice manifesting to achieve your goals
Manifestation is yet another word that does not have the best of reputation at the moment. It's because it's being used and abused by many people who do not wish to act but who expect things to just fall from the sky, as per their manifestation request.
But it's not as simple as that. Manifestation is a powerful technique if used correctly and wisely.
Just like with visualisation, if you spend some time every day writing down what you want and repeating it to yourself - you are training your brain to expect a change. Once you set that change into motion, it will be easier for you to achieve it. That's why I believe manifestation to be one of the most powerful instruments of self-care.
3. Use affirmations to create your dream life
Using affirmation is yet another tool in my self-care toolbox.
You can download them from the internet, read in various books or write them yourself. They are powerful words that you read to yourself every day, especially during crunch and stress time. They help you to concentrate on positive and uplifting rather than routine or negative. Affirmations do not need to be long or complicated.
I am confident - could be enough if repeated consistently.
4. Create a simple action plan for the day
Once we visualised and manifested our future, read our favourite affirmations - it's time to act. No dream will become a reality unless we do something about it. Hence, it's important to act.
A simple action plan will help you set your mind in the right mindset. It will also help you to remind what priorities are that you need to accomplish today.
5. Identify your daily highlight
Now that you have an action plan, choose one task that is the most important to you. Self-care is about being yourself and going after what your heart contents. If we only do actions that we think we should, it's not self-care, it's torture. So from your list choose one task that will make you very happy once completed.
6. Read or do something that ignites your fire
And my favourite. Whenever I am feeling depleted or feel like my dream is not achievable in this lifetime, I start reading. I read everything I can lay my hands on. I prefer something motivational. Be it stories, autobiographies or books that inspire. Or I might do something that might spark my imagination. Like pretend I give a speech (I have a book on speeches that I often read out loud in front of the mirror). Anything that stands a chance to take me out of funk and help to reestablish my self-care routine.
7. Have a day without digital screens
Did you know that the overuse of screens directly affects our health? Digital detox is becoming more and more popular as nowadays we cannot imagine our lives without our trusted gadgets. But did you know that digital detox could be considered part of psychological self-care?
There are some obvious benefits to our self-cate from it. Not only we give our hands, eyes and brain a bit of a rest, digital detox provided a good thinking space. Often when we are bored, tired or overwhelmed we reach out for our phone or tablet (or other technology). And as a result, we spend all our time occupying our brain with something. We do not give it any breathing space. But it's extremely important as only when we do nothing, or are a bit bored we can come up with new insights and ideas.
Final thoughts on 7 Most Powerful Psychological Self-Care Instruments To Aid Motivation
Self-care is varied. It's not only about looking after your body and giving yourself a break. Self-care is also about knowing what motivates you, what drives you and makes you happy.
My psychological self-care tips that aid motivation could also be used in other areas of self-care, such as physical or emotional. It's not about labels, really. It's about you and I remembering to live our lives not like hamsters in the eternally spinning wheels, but as consciously awake beings, knowing our limits and going after our dreams.
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