Word of Encouragement: Counselor’s Corner: Tips for Taking Care of Your Emotional, Physical and Spiritual Health

Are you running on empty? Are you lacking joy, peace, contentment and energy? Is your relationship with God dry, distant or non-existent?

Neglecting your emotions, physical or spiritual needs is neither wise nor healthy.

If you are feeling drained, and are finding it hard to relax or even laugh something needs adjusting in your life. Most likely you are ignoring the warning signals in your body, spirit and mind that are telling you to slow down, breathe, and enjoy life.

►When we are not taking care of our physical bodies fatigue, sluggishness, headaches, stomach distress, muscle aches and pains, and malaise can happen. When we do not take care of our emotional state depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, addictions, and lack of contentment can occur. When we do not invest time spiritually with God we can flounder by going our own way, become confused, wearied, burdened and fearful.

If you have not been talking good care of your emotional, physical or spiritual needs stop today and reevaluate your life. Write down tangible goals that you can implement today to begin your journey to complete wholeness.

►I will give you some practical ways you can start your journey to wholeness. If you are depleted in in of these areas at ANY TIME, place the “oxygen mask” on yourself first before trying to give it to someone else. You cannot give someone what you don’t have. If you don’t learn to take care of you, it will be futile to try and do this for others.

Tips for taking good care of your emotional, physical, and spiritual needs:

1.      Set healthy boundaries with others (especially the toxic people in your life). KNOW YOUR LIMITS-You cannot be everything to everyone without neglecting your needs. Know when to say, “No.” When you are depleted is not time to agree to something that will not be beneficial to you.

2.      Get alone with God as much as possible. Preferably in the morning (start your day right), seek God first before you check your email and Facebook page. Feed your spirit everyday with devotions, prayer, worship, reading the Bible, or just sitting still before the Lord.

3.      Exercise at least 3-4x per week. Walking is a great stress reliever plus it’s great for your heart. Don’t neglect taking care of your body.

4.      Eat fresh fruits and vegetables daily. Drinking a fresh fruit/vegetable smoothie first thing in the morning is a great way to jumpstart your day by increasing your energy naturally and boosting your immune system.

5.      Take a good multivitamin and any other nutritional supplements recommended by a health care provider.

►A GREAT WAY to start EVERY MORNING. Start off by taking a walk (pray and talk to God during your walk), followed by a fresh fruit smoothie with your nutritional supplements, and commune/connect to your power source, Jesus Christ through prayer, worship or reading the Word. This is mind, body and spirit nourishment.

6.      Do something that you enjoy several times a week. Don’t know what you enjoy? Keep it simple like a bike ride or reading a book until others things you enjoy come to your mind.

7.      Laugh more. Laughing is difficult if you have been neglecting your needs, so go easy on yourself at first. Start off watching a comedy or just be silly. If you are too serious to be silly at times, you’re too serious. Lighten up! (If you have been through trauma or grief be gentle with yourself, laughing may seem difficult but try anyways.)

8.      Unplug from your phone and social media during all meals at home, and disconnect one hour before bed. Unplug and disconnect from these sources when you need to as well. Set perimeters on when you will check your phone or social media.

9.      Take “mental health” days. If you need a day to recharge then do so and don’t feel bad about it. I recommend taking at least one “mental health” day a month, if you cannot afford to take that kind of time from your job then do it when you have time off. During your “mental health” day you should unplug from social media, phone and emails. You should also do something that makes you happy and causes you to smile.

10.  Connect with people who nourish your spirit and after you leave their presence you feel encouraged. Don’t have people like that in your life? Ask God to bring them in your path. Don’t connect with people that are life and energy drainers because there is no one else in your life, wait for God to bring those life enhancing people to you.

11.  Journal your thoughts or what God may be sharing with you. Journaling can bring a release to negative emotions that you may carry.

Taking good care of yourself should be your number one priority. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will? What can you implement to start taking better care of you

Word of Encouragement: Counselor’s Corner: Are You Merciful to Yourself?

Do you give mercy to others but find it difficult to give mercy to yourself?

Forgiving others may come much easier than forgiving yourself. You can justify forgiving others for tremendous offenses but seem to find it difficult to forgive yourself for lesser offenses. There could be a wrong belief that says that you need to pay some sort of penance before you can let yourself off the hook.

You might say that you are your worst own critic. Taking care and helping others are your primary concern, but you seem to neglect proper self-care of yourself. Enjoying life and not taking life so serious is challenging for you because you feel at times you should be punished for the wrong that you have done. Even more challenging is others who have not offered you forgiveness of your wrong doings, and you may condemn yourself because you do not feel forgiven by them.

When you show mercy to someone, you let them off the hook. Showing mercy means you will have compassion and forgiveness instead of giving that person what they deserved. Mercy means not bringing up the offense committed again. Are you able to do this with yourself, or do you rehash your shortcomings over and over? Do you beat yourself up over mistakes and weaknesses that you have? Are you rigid and hard on yourself, not able to let go of prior offenses?

You have asked Jesus to forgive you for your past mistakes but you continue to punish yourself in some way. You can punish yourself by not enjoying life. If you replay in your mind all the hurtful things you have done, or all the regrets that you have-you will not enjoy life!

God does not punish you for your past mistakes by wanting you to remember them and not enjoy life. In fact the opposite is true of God-He is merciful and gives mercy. Jesus paid your debts that you owed on the cross, and when you seek His forgiveness in your daily walk with Him; He washes you clean as if you never committed any sin!

Showing mercy to yourself means that you recognize that you are human with weaknesses and shortcomings, and you will not always act perfectly or do the right thing. Letting go and forgiving yourself of any wrong doing that you have done will sow mercy for yourself. If you feel you just can’t show yourself mercy because you mess up daily or frequently, you especially need to give yourself mercy. If you are honestly trying not to hurt or offend others, and you are striving daily to grow in your relationship with Christ, then give yourself MERCY!