Nurture Life

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”– John Steinbeck

So many of us are scrambling to simply get past our physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual challenges, that we just cannot seem to nurture ourselves, let alone anyone else.  But we must nurture ourselves so that we can nurture others.

As we enter the downhill slide, there is a loneliness and boredom to deal with, especially for those of us who have been gypsies and Type A personalities who have been on the go go go go go mode most of our lives.  Our physical limitations begin to curtail some of our Go.  We need to be needed.  It is a basic human need.  We need to love and to be shown love.  We need to keep learning.  We need to get out and about.  We need to celebrate and be celebrated.  We need to feel like we still contribute to the whole.  There is so much more that we need beyond food and shelter and first, we need to do all we can to nurture these things in ourselves.  We need to pull up our big girl panties and, in confidence, find what is of value about us. 

All of us have negative ideas about ourselves, as well as positive.  We need to find a strong sense of self in this life of ours.  We cannot turn our well-being over to others to take care any sooner than it must be done.  We need to find things that bring us joy, peace, dignity, grace and build on those things.  Those who get involved in social activities stay healthier; physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually (as in hope and soul-strength).  As we recover from life, we can discover things in life to keep us passionate about who we are and what we do.  Compassion for self nurtures us. When we nurture ourselves, we are able to better discern what others need nurturing.

The Dali Lama says, "Compassion and concern for others is the key to human survival." 

Do we understand how we confine ourselves to our past is not nurturing ourselves or anyone else? To be so egocentric is to lose the opportunity to put out love and hope and courage for others to partake of and return it back to us. 

Say yes to nurturing Life.  It is not all about us other than healing self so we can be of worth to others.  That is life:  the constant give and take of nurturing.

©Carol Desjarlais 6.8.19