Self-care tips

In This Month of Love–Love One Another

Lynette M Burrows

“Love one another” is a concept that has been around since Confucian times (551–479 BC) or earlier. It’s been stated and restated. Call it a Golden Rule You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. Love your neighbor as yourself — Leviticus 19:18 The concept appears in nearly every religion.  What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn. — Shabbath folio:31a, Babylonian Talmud Call it Karma Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil. –Chinese Proverb You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you. –Wayne Dyer Call it ethics For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. A repercussion. – Brownell Landrum Author Kindness is loving people more than they deserve. –Joseph Joubert Writer Whatever you call it… Live It A lot of times, in our culture and our society, we put romantic love somehow on a higher plane than self-love and friendship love. You can’t do that. You have to honor and really fully invest in all these different loving relationships. —Delilah The fact is, society is made more hospitable by every individual who […]

In This Month of Love-Love Nature

Lynette M Burrows

It’s February, love is in the air, and Valentine’s Day will soon be here. But you can’t truly love anyone one else if you don’t love yourself, first. (See my post In This Month of Love—Love Yourself). Chances are you have a nature-deficit and you’re suffering for it. If you love yourself, love nature and make time to connect with nature every day. What Time in Nature Does Studies show that connecting with nature increases our sense of well-being. When we give ourselves the gift of time in nature, it allows us to understand our place in the world. We feel more connected. Connecting with the natural world also helps with healing physically and emotionally. Hospital patients with views of the outside heal faster. Those who are grieving find time in natural settings soothing. Studies suggest that connecting with nature also makes us smarter and more productive. A Nature-Deficit Yet, in our modern-day lives, American’s spend more than 90% of their time indoors with little to no fresh air. See this from Velux. Some studies show that we spend even less time in nature. “In 1989, Ott “reinterpreted” the codes from the MCTBRP activity pattern data for 44 U.S. cities […]

In this Month of Love–Love Yourself

Lynette M Burrows

I was in a dark place. My marriage had failed. The separation and divorce tattered my son’s self-esteem. My writing had stalled and I had horrible nightmares. I was the most worthless person I knew (second only to my ex). Self-love was selfish, or so I thought. I wish someone had told child me, “love yourself.” It took years of therapy and self-examination to learn that self-love isn’t selfish. I was lucky. I could afford therapy and by the luck of the draw, I found some good therapists. Back then I had one thing going for me, I was determined. Determined to be the best mom I could be for my son, I knew I had to work on me. The Struggle It was a terrible struggle. Feelings of worthlessness, self-loathing, mistrust, and shame filled me with negativity. I hid most of those feelings from the people around me. That good old Puritan work ethic flowed through me. I plowed through the work day, the housework, and the Monday through Friday life stuff. Every other weekend my son went to his father’s house and I crumpled into a tearful, self-loathing mess. I feared I was going crazy. My therapist made […]