Self care. It’s a buzzword right now. Read baths with crystals, a day off work, massages. While I applaud all of these in context, they’re temporary measures that don’t address the underlying reasons for the mental, emotional, physical burnout, exhaustion and overwhelm that triggered the need for them in the first place . The deepest, most effective self care is care of small self, by Big Self. It’s the nourishing, conscious awareness we can direct in the moment, from our more expanded perspective, onto the small part of ourselves that’s experiencing the turmoil. We can give ourselves loving attention which provides the space for an emotion to be felt, and released, for emotions passing through to be both allowed and not resisted, suppressed or avoided, boosted by the stability of our most expanded awareness, the underlying bliss of Being, available to us in any given moment. It’s taking the time to allow stresses to be released from the body, in consciousness, liberating the body from carrying those loads which dampen our flame and natural energy. It’s creating space for our innermost desires, the subtle whisper of charm, intuition, the outlet of our soul to be heard and then answering that call to action. That’s self care. Big Self taking care - giving attention to - small self. Whatever arises from this is really the care that we need. And we can do this any time, no bath or rose petals required, by the conscious direction of our attention, or by sitting to meditate and letting Big Self take care.