Are You Nourishing Yourself?

"Your cortisol is low again," my doctor said. Given my penchant for working too hard and not taking enough time off, low cortisol levels mean one thing: adrenal fatigue. After beating myself up for a couple of minutes for letting myself get to this point again and not learning my lesson the last two times I had adrenal fatigue, I realized it was up to me.

Good thing I know what to do: I practice self-care, although apparently not enough lately. But the place I struggle with most – and this is a real moment of vulnerability for me to admit this to you – is practicing what I preach. I've learned to love my body over the years and to truly see it as a sacred Temple. However, I don't always treat it as such.

Since the beginning of Summer, I've been planning to do a free 7- day Love Your Body, Nourish Your Temple challenge for my community at the end of September. How ironic is it that, as it turns out, I'm the one who needs the challenge? I'm the one who needs to practice what she preaches: self-care and nourishing your sacred body temple.

So what does it mean to Nourish yourself? Growing up, “nourishment” meant eating whatever Mom fixed. As I was raised on the standard American diet, that usually meant some kind of meat, maybe a vegetable, and some bread.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that nourishing yourself is so much more than what you eat. It’s how you treat yourself in every aspect of your life. It’s how you talk to yourself and about yourself to others. It’s how you take care of yourself at a very basic level.

To me, nourishing yourself means this:

1. Treat your body as a sacred temple – your body houses your soul; it’s your sacred connection to the Divine. Yet, so often, we don’t treat it as such, much less think of it as a Sacred temple.
2. Get in tune with your body's natural cycles and rhythms – no one can go, go, go all the time. We are human be-ings, not human do-ings after all. Yet, so many of us push ourselves non-stop - until we get sick or burned out. What would it be like if you got in tune with your body’s natural rhythms? Sound hard? It’s not. Track your energy levels for one month. If you’re female, I bet you notice differences in your energy levels around your menstrual cycle. Even if you don’t menstruate, or are male, you may still notice differences in your energy levels throughout the month. Maybe you aren’t sleeping well or not eating right. Maybe you’re just having a bad day. What if on those days – the days you felt less than your best – you allowed yourself to rest and recharge?
3. Listen to your body – one of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years is to listen to my body. I once had a client who was having chest pains, but her cardiologist could find nothing wrong with her heart. She came to me out of desperation because her doctors were suggesting that her symptoms were psychosomatic. I asked her one question: Why is your heart breaking? Immediately she broke down in tears. Her chest pains? They were physical manifestations of her grief over her impending divorce and loss of her 30-year marriage.
4. Get in touch with your emotions – As in my client’s case, sometimes our physical symptoms are merely manifestations of what is going on psychologically. So pay attention to your emotions: they are a superpower and a window to your Soul. If something feels “off” or “wrong,” it probably is.
5. Keep your cup full - Wynonna Judd once said, “You have to fill your cup. You then give away the overflowing, but you keep a cupful for yourself.” Self-care is not selfish; it’s survival. It’s making sure you are well-taken care of so that you can be there for your spouse and your kids and whoever it is that you care about.

If this idea intrigues you, I invite you to join me for 7 days of learning how to love your body and nourish your sacred body temple. Each day you'll get an audio and a workbook. I realize you're busy. We all are. I promise it won't take you long. 10 to 15 minutes per day, tops. But what you come out with on the other side is a set of skills you can use time and time again to help reclaim body love and nourish your sacred body temple. You'll learn how to put you at the top of your priority list. You'll learn how to treat your body like the sacred Temple She is. And you're going to feel better, a lot better, than you do right now. Isn't it time you finally took care of you? Finally put you at the top of your priority list? Now is the time.

Click here to sign up and change your life for the better.