Beyond Food and Body Obsession... Ways to Nurture Ourselves

• Go for a stroll in nature.
• Listen to your favorite music and dance in your living room like no one's watching.
• Sing your heart out.
• Write a letter to allow all those bottled-up emotions expression.
• Read a page-turner.
• Visit or call a friend who truly loves and supports you.
• Paint or draw out your feelings on a canvas.
• Mold your intangible emotions into something you can see and feel by working with clay.
• Using push-pins chart a course of all the places you would love to travel on a world map.
• Create space to dream.
• Light candles in a darkened room and listen to Loreena McKennit, Mazzy Star, Deva Premal, Mozart, or any artist that stirs your soul.
• Allow yourself to receive a massage.
• Nurture your whole body with a luxurious body butter.
• Slip into the comfort of a soothing soak in the tub.
• Have a loved one rub your feet.
• Get crafty by indulging in your favorite creative hobbies... beading, mandalas, woodworking, scrap-booking.
• Make a vision board. Create a collage to map out your future.
• Enjoy the silence... surrender your worries to meditation.
• Get all decked out just for you and treat yourself to a day out on the town.
• Find comfort in a warm cup of tea shared with a good listener.
• Light incense and allow its scent to carry away your prayers.
• Take your pup for a walk and if you don't have a pooch of your own, offer to walk the neighbor's dog.
• Get organized. Sort through your belongings. Collect clothes to donate, clear out old junk, decorate with some warming touches. Clear out the old to welcome in the new.
• Go on a road trip and bring along a play file of all your favorite CD's.
• Play fashionista. Put together new outfits. Try new make-up and hairstyles.
• Invite a friend over and treat each other to a makeover.
• Invite your friends over for a slumber party just like the ones you had when you were a teenager.
• Write in your diary.
• Curl up in bed for a cozy nap.
• Steep in a hot tub.
• Treat yourself to a facial.
• Go on a walk with camera in hand and take photos of the sights you want to remember along the way.
• Head out for a bike ride.
• Treat yourself to a swim at a local pool.
• Sit in the woods or at the ocean and feel the grounding energy.
• Make a list of affirmations and read them out loud to yourself.
• Leave it all on the mat. Release with yoga.
• Get kisses and hugs from loved ones.
• Spend time with your pet.
• Chant... work with mantra.
• Relax in a hot shower. Let the waters wash away your concerns.
• Go window shopping. Browse in a bookstore.
• Head downtown for a cup of coffee and some people watching.
• Visit a museum.
• Read your favorite book from childhood.
• Have someone you love brush or braid your hair.
• Punch your pillow to let the anger out.
• Have a good cry. Release the pressure of holding it in.
• Pleasure yourself.
• Make a cuddle date with your mate... no expectations for it to lead further... just time to be held and cared for.
• Grab your crayons and color in a coloring book.
• Start a gratitude journal. Keep a running list of everything you are grateful for. Add to your journal at the end of each day, or in those moments you feel down.
• Lounge about and do absolutely nothing and do not feel the least bit guilty about it.
• Treat yourself to a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
• Purchase yourself a very sexy article of clothing that fits your current body like a glove.