Soulfriends, are you being nice to you ? Treating yourself like a good friend? Have you been kind and understanding to you today? Or have you been running around madly. working hard, squeezing things in and pushing yourself? Did you also have too little sleep? And have you been feeding yourself rubbish food too?

Why!?!! Why are we all living this way. Busy-ness is taking over everyone and consuming our identities, and we’re all just running around mindlessly. Busyness is the opposite of thoughtfulness, it’s how we lose ourselves, miss out on living our lives, become depressed, lose our passion and joy in being alive. The need for stuff becomes consuming and usurps all the goodness from our lives, leaving us with nothing of value… truly the material is never valuable when the emotional life is bankrupt. Who cares how much you have if you have no one to share it with, and no one to love, or your health is compromised, or your mind overwhelmed or depressed?

We all need to wake up and start caring again, and treating ourselves with the same care we would a friend. If you would not treat your friend the way you’re treating yourself, then there’s a problem!! And its time that it was addressed. A really good first step in this direction is just learning to pay attention to your needs again. To listen to you. For some of us this is so foreign that we need to actually make a plan to incorporate this back into our lives again!!

So please Soullies, at least twice a day, take a full 5 minutes and stop and take stock of how you’re feeling. Pay attention to your emotional state; what are you feeling and where is your mind wanting to go? Acknowledge your feelings, and listen to your thoughts. Allow yourself that moment of happiness or sadness or curiosity or creativity…  Then reassure yourself that you are exactly as you are meant to be. That your emotions and feelings are valid and that you embrace and accept and appreciate them all. Next, pay attention to your body. How are you? Are you tired, hungry, sore, or achey? Are you hot or cold? If you are in discomfort physically, tend to that need, take care of it and remind yourself that this act of caring is important and absolutely worthwhile, just as you yourself are.  Spending even as little time as this focusing on you everyday makes a huge difference to how you feel.

Honestly, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving this a try… mindful living Soulfriends, you’ll be better for it, I promise…. xx

Amber | www.intothesoul.com