Taking care of yourself

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Until not that long ago, taking care of yourself meant to make certain you were sheltered from the elements, had food to eat on a regular basis, and belonged to a group ~ a tribe so to speak...
In other words protection, sustenance, and companionship were what was needed in order to take care of yourself.

In the energies of today another element has been added to these: Balance.

To take care of ourselves, perhaps even more than protection, sustenance and companionship ~ we need balance.
Balance within ourselves; to be at peace with ourselves and, in a sense, being our own best friend. Balance with the world around us, which includes finding a way to either stay balanced when we find ourselves in a stressful situation ~ or at least to ability to regain our balance quickly.
And balance with the universe ~ the balance with our environment and the energies that are around us.

This means that where in ancient times the protection of ourselves may have been our number one priority ~ and even in more recent history having enough food to last us through the Winter months might have been the most important thing we needed for our survival. However, in this day and age companionship and balance are on the top of the list and therefore deserve our full attention.

Especially when we are walking a personal, or even spiritual path of service...

Whichever way you look at it; walking a path of service makes it even more important to take care of ourselves first.
Whether our service takes the form of helping others, or is expressed through sending healing to those in need, or even the earth or the universe, the better we take care of ourselves ~ balance ourselves, seek out the companionship that supports us, and feed ourselves with the foods our physical bodies truly need ~ the more effective we will be.

And while ~ at least at some level ~ we all know this is true, it is a good idea to every once in a while step back from our busy lives and see if we are truly taking care of ourselves. To see if we are allowing ourselves enough time to rest; and time to ‘play’.
In other words, to evaluate whether we are  providing ourselves with the things we need in order to continue on our personal, (spiritual) path of service.
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