As we care for ourselves we should not just be focused on material care such as eating healthy food or booking a massage every week. As good as gyms, spas, relaxation and retreat places are for the body, we also need to take spiritual care; that is care for the spirit, the soul, the ‘invisible’ self.
Imagine all the things that you have to take care of throughout the day, ranging from your car to your plants, to your pets and your family members. Do you take a hammer and bash them around? Or are they handled with velvet gloves, so to speak, with a gentle, tender energy? To care means to be sensitive and gentle, to be in tune with the thing I am caring for. To nurture and to sustain with love.
The first thing we need to care for is our mind. As many of us have noted through experience, the root of most of our problems lies in the way we think. If we have not sorted out our mind and cared for our thoughts, then that can only reflect in our lives as chaos and confusion, laziness and lethargy.
Is our mind calm and orderly? How many useful thoughts do we have throughout the day, and how many are just wasteful? Imagine if each thought were worth a thousand dollars, and each time you created one, you were spending a thousand dollars… would you not think twice before rapidly increasing their production?
Many of the reasons that we need physical care such as therapists, doctors and psychiatrists, is because of the misuse of our mind. Somewhere we have not taken the right decisions for our lives, which has resulted in emotional and eventually physical pain.
We also need to care for our words. As are our thoughts, so too will be our words. If we have a huge influx of thoughts, then there surely will be a tsunami of words also! And once something is uttered it is ‘set in stone’ so to speak. There is no going back! So be careful of what you say, for you will have to reap the repercussions of it.
Care for your money. Do not waste it as if your bank account is like a bottomless pit. Use it wisely and it will work for you – give you more returns. Money is simply energy. It is a means to get things done. Do not be trapped in its web, but at the same time care for it by respecting it and being economical.
Care for your time. If you don’t value and respect your time, then don’t expect others to either! Time is passing, and every moment is precious. Make the most of every moment. Each moment is meant to be lived in happiness, not sorrow and confusion. Spiritual care means to be living a spiritual experience at every moment.
Care for your every breath. Your health is important. How much energy do we waste on things that are neither useful nor necessary? Move to the path of least resistance and do not engage in the things that will give you stress or raise your blood pressure! Either convert them into happiness, or avoid them until you can.
Care for your destiny. We learn on a spiritual path that this is the time to take care of our future also. What we do does not just affect this moment or even this lifetime, but forever after. Are we taking care of our future by sowing seeds of good and elevated deeds? We cannot blame anyone else for where we are at. We are the only ones who can invest in our future.
As I add more insights from spirituality into my life, I learn what it means to take care of myself from a selfless place and not a selfish place. I understand that to be truly healthy means to have the awareness that we are all one and united as a human race.
Ultimately spiritual self-care means to take responsibility for the whole of us, not just the bodily parts. As my mind becomes peaceful, as my words become sweet, as I become abundant, as I live in faith with my future, I become carefree! That is, I do not need to worry or fear anything. That is the ultimate experience of Inner Peace.
It’s Time… to take spiritual care!
Om Shanti
© ‘It’s Time…’ by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London, UK