Today’s Mandala Message: Honor Yourself First
This week I’m working through Principle #58 “Pay Yourself first” of Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles”. I set my intention today to ponder the concept of honoring yourself first. This goes a little of topic from Canfield’s principle in that instead of being about money, it’s about our soul self.
From an article by Swarnakshi Sharma on CalmSage.com entitled “8 Subtle Ways to Honor Yourself (And Why You Should)”, she states: “When I say, “honor yourself”, I mean to respect, admire, and appreciate yourself and all the efforts and sacrifices you’ve made in your life so far. Honoring yourself is not about stroking your ego or putting yourself on a pedestal too high. It’s about seeing who you are and appreciating yourself for it. Honoring yourself means that you see your values, beliefs, and desires, and you stand firm with them. You take accountability for them with respect.”
Here are her 8 Subtle Ways to Honor Yourself (in her article she goes into more depth about each one):
1. Be Honest With Yourself
2. Allow Yourself Some Downtime
3. Set Healthy Boundaries
4. Hang Out With Supportive People
5. Make Room For Self-Growth
6. Make Yourself A Priority
7. Respect *All* Of You
8. Seek Support But Make Your Decisions
While all 8 would benefit from my attention, numbers 1., 2., 6., and 7. are ones that could use more of my attention. As I write this, a voice in my head says “I don’t have time to make myself a priority.” Well, I guess that makes for a good starting point for further digging.
In thinking about where this is coming from, a memory from my childhood popped up. I see my mother majorly stressing out while prepping a meal for company that’s coming over later. Seeing her this way, I offered to help (I was about 7 or 8 yrs old). Her “overly-stressed” reply was “If you can’t see what needs to be done, then I can’t help you.” Ouch!
Looking at it now though, I see where she made everything else a priority and the thought for her having to stop what she’s doing to explain to me (or anyone for that matter) what needs to be done, just put her over the edge. My little self at the time just walked away feeling hurt, helpless, and confused. … I don’t want that for myself any more.
A good mindfulness practice would be to take time to honor yourself in whatever way suits you best.
So how about you? Do you honor yourself? What does ‘honoring yourself’ mean to you? What’s one thing you can do today to honor yourself?
“Honoring yourself means
— SK Camille
recognizing the significance,
importance, validity,
and sacredness
of your own values,
thoughts, beliefs,
desires, life, and self.”
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas
An Invitation
I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.
Mandala of the Day 