DO YOU CELEBRATE YOURSELF?
Celebrating yourself to prevent feeling overwhelmed and PMS
Do you take time to celebrate yourself? Do you stop to acknowledge your successes, however small they seem? Do you give yourself a chance to rest and replenish, maybe do something nice for yourself after you accomplished something? Or do you set off right away to the next task/goal?
Imagine if, every month, you were taking the time to celebrate yourself….
Look at it as the Harvest Time when you finally savour the produce of your hard work. Harvest is time of celebration! Is the time for resting and enjoy the accomplishments of your efforts, nourish yourself in preparation for the winter time and have fun!
We have been celebrating during the Festive Season and I hope you had time to really celebrate yourself. Or maybe you have been running around preparing and buying presents for everyone else? Did you do something nice for yourself?
I will be curious to hear from you because, mostly, clients who come to visit me after the holidays are more stressed than before or took no much time at all for themselves.
How lovely would it be to take the time, every months just before your period (or before the Dark Moon if you are not longer menstruating for whatever reason) to embrace stillness and reflect on your successes for the month: what have you learned from your experiences; what were your realizations; what have you accomplished that, although small, made you feel good about yourself?
Doing so would be so valuable to prevent the frustration, bursts of anger and various emotional up and downs, feeling exhausted and overwhelmed that we experience just before or during our period. And as I say, this is not only for those who are still bleeding, all women experience this, no matter where they are with their periods, because we all need to “empty”, let go and replenish ourselves.
So what simple things can we do?
Starting around seven days before your period:
• Take time and make space for yourself!
This is the time to “come back to yourself”, to withdraw a bit if you feel the need and think about yourself more. Don’t worry about wasting time, actually, just do nothing!! And just allow yourself to be with yourself. Allow yourself time alone to reflect on your life, your happiness or what is or is not working for you. Reflect on what has changed and what you would like to change. Be very honest with yourself and don’t be afraid of what may come up and be ready to release it.
• Don’t force it!
Don’t push yourself even when you are tired and know you need to rest. Listen to your body and work with it. And also don’t take on any new projects, this is not the right time, wait until after your period.
• Communicate your needs and delegate.
It is so easy for us women to just keep going and do it ourselves! Don’t ask for help even when we need it or get disappointed and frustrated because our needs and expectations don’t get met. Yes, we need to ask and delegate, don’t expect “them” to do it “because they should know or should do”, NO, they need to be told! Do you resonate with that? Learn to kindly ask is not admitting weakness but honouring a feminine quality of gentleness and yes, vulnerability.
• Be comfortable with vulnerability.
Being vulnerable is a gift we give ourselves, to be authentic instead of putting up the pretence of perfection, which honestly is quite exhausting!
Positive vulnerability is be in a safe place to be authentic, first of all with ourselves. Our men will benefit from this too, they relax as they see us relaxing and easing up in this process of trusting and letting go, being open and transparent. Afterall our vulnerability will satisfy the deep need of men to be needed and to be protective of us.
Vulnerability establishes trust, trust that others will be happy to help you and care for you. Surround yourself with caring and loving girlfriends that will be pleased to support you, sisterhood spirit is such a precious thing to exchange help as needed.
So don’t be afraid of being vulnerable and ask. Trust your intuition to know when it’s a good time to ask. Challenge yourself to ask and you will be surprised by the response. Rigidity and excessive perfectionism put so much strain on us, I know it very well being a Virgo and I know how detrimental it can be for our wellbeing. So… soften up!
• Nourish yourself, body and soul!
Nurturance is one of our feminine valuable characteristics but we forget to also apply it to ourselves! Do what you love, do something pleasurable just for you, have a bath, read a book, have a massage, buy yourself flowers, celebrate yourself! Little rituals are so important in our lives.
• Avoid stimulants.
Don’t go against the tide with stimulants that will disharmonize the delicate balance of your hormones and accelerate your pace which is naturally slower at this time. Avoid alcohol, sweets, sugar and fizzy drinks, caffeine.
• Appreciation and Gratitude, powerful allies for your wellbeing.
Being in a state of gratitude and appreciating yourself are basic ingredients to feel good and celebrate yourself and life. Various studies (including those conducted by the Hearth Math Institute) show that when we are in a state of appreciation, our cognitive abilities, problem solving skills and wellbeing improve, we respond more positively to situations around us.
If we duel in negative emotions such as frustration, this will have a deleterious effect on our cognitive function and our sense of wellbeing: it will create physiological distress in our body and mind.
Try your best to give thanks everyday and be appreciative, and observe how everything flows more easily in your life.
I hope these suggestions will help you to feel more balanced throughout the month, achieve a more harmonious relationship with yourself (and others too) and prevent feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and all those symptoms that come under the “PMS” label which in fact are simply a result of lack of self-nurturing and care.
Love and celebrate yourself and enjoy the outcome.