Thursday, November 17, 2016

Self-Care: Happy Making Stuff

I am taking the recent turn of events in our country seriously, but now - more than ever - we need to take care of ourselves. We need to take care of ourselves because we need to take care of each other, and if we don't take care of ourselves we'll run out of energy for helping others. I know audre lorde was speaking to all of us when she wrote: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” 

Since I don't have a guest post ready for today, I decided I'm going to publish a list of things that bring me joy or smiles or hope or at least satisfaction. I've seen it on other blogs and a lot on social media. I'm also going invite you to either do the same on your blog or social media or at least in a notebook.
  • Satisfaction: That first perfect sip of your first cup of coffee. Cream and sugar, please. 
  • Joy: Poetry that is so good it takes up residence in your gut. Tom Hennen's poetry did this to me recently.
  • Hope: How ready the ACLU is for the coming fight. I've been a member since 2001, and I'll always be a member.
  • Joy: The way my cats have a pecking order for who gets and give affection to me first and second. Viktor waits, politely, a little back from the door when I get home because Zephyr, as a longer term resident, gets first dibs. 
  • Smiles: That I know my neighbors' dogs' names, but not theirs. Lady is the black lab and Padfoot is the teeny muppety looking pup.
  • Hope: Students on my campus had an anti-Trump rally this week. I went out and cheered.
  • Satisfaction: That my muscle memory is coming back and I'm playing the guitar almost as well as I did before I stopped for a while. Even sight reading for the most part.
  • Smiles: Attended a wedding last weekend and danced so hard for so long that my legs hurt the next day.
  • Joy and Satisfaction and Smiles and maybe even a little Hope: NONONONO Cat.


Hope this list helps you at least a little. Writing it helped me a whole heck of a lot.

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