Hello and welcome back to the PalabraYCuerpo.com Blog! Paired with Insight (a meditation app you can subscribe to), I offer you healing through words. I am writing straight into the WordPress blog format, and it feels so nostalgic from my jasmargarita.wordpress.com I’ve had since 2017. I was reflecting the other day on International Women’s Day that I published that fateful blog (as my SOGIE has expanded). I will be repurposing some of that content for here!
We so often separate ourselves from CommUnity but there’s no CommUnity without U. If we’re not okay, how can our community be okay, if we’re part of our community?
CommUnity
“Community” here can be defined as, or otherwise, related to birth, family, friends, work, school, hobbies, activities, advocacy, sports, any connections you may find in this large, beautiful world. Notice how I didn’t mention virtual connections, although they are valid, and real, virtual relationships should be supplemented with in-person care and affection. When we suffer in isolation versus insulation is when the powers and oppression that be… Win. And we’re no losers over here.
Broken up into four pillars (you can make your own definitions!) C.A.R.E is consistent, active, relationship(s) effort.
Last blog, we set up the stage for “Natural High.” Most of our problems have natural, human-solutions. If we aren’t giving our Body what it needs, we’re already setting ourselves up for a contentious relationship with our Body. Living on the East Side is recognizing the way vices affect our relationships.
Vices here can be defined as anything that has a grip on us on our life distracting us from our life purpose, goals, and dreams. For example: Screens. (As I’m writing into a screen. Lol)
“You don’t have a productivity problem; you have a priorities problem.”
Something a bit more severe, of course, is a dependency on drugs. Yes, alcohol is a drug. Alcohol is a depressant, y’all. You drink your problems away, you feel great in half an hour, then you feel worse. You wake up worse. So you do it again for that half hour. Is that half hour really worth your life?
I’ve been playing with my sobriety for two years and each mole hill, a stretch of time period, is a mountain I celebrate. You should, too, beloved. It is the hardest thing to break a dependency or habit. Overworking is also a vice. Caffeine can be, too. If you are short of injecting Redbull into your veins, I’m sorry honey, I’d recommend doing a systems check, immediately. I am very grateful for my family for choosing themselves this round of attempting and being sober. Recovering addicts, you’re near and dear to my heart.
If the exhaustion you’re feeling every day from life, and the constant running away from it, it’s correlated directly to Natural High.
Any of which that takes you away from your relationships is not caring for yourself.
Relationships here is “relation to” and this means our relationship to ourselves, to the land, and to a higher power, if you believe in one/multiple, to start.
Capitalism is not natural. Capitalism is, and will never be, ethical. It’s dependent on the exploitation of land, people, and animals.
How can we create systems of care?
Start with self.
Pay attention to what you’re eating, drinking, consuming in the eyes, mind, heart, Body, and Soul, and what you’re digesting outwardly. Are you stewarding and taking care of Mother Earth, not taking more than what you need, and instead, giving and offering her what she needs, feeling the sunshine on your face, the crisp air whispering you, or are you viewing other people’s lives through a screen? (Guilty, as well!)
The trend of “eating a handful of Spinach” is so true. The instant relief is real. Sometimes, my Body just screams “I need more SALT!” and I know I lack deficiency in a vitamin or mineral.
Your commUnity needs U.
You need You.
Start today.
Break it down to small, actionable steps. Consistency looks different for everybody. Every three days is still consistent. Every week. Every month. Every other month. Every three months. Still consistent. Vitamins, medication, exercise/movement in your body, inner childlike joy, skincare, lessening the amount of times you eat fast food or chemically engineered addictive food (I miss you, Oreos), chipping away at a dream, an art piece, a project, caring for other living things, talking on the phone with someone who fills your cup, you fill theirs, and especially, especially, stopping yourself at the thoughts of negativity, self-doubt, perfectionism—ALL. All. Of. It. Counts.
Let it be your ritual. Something that’s sacred to you. For example, taking time to yourself. I have “Do-Nothing-Days” where I have zero things on my calendar and Spirit will tell me what I need to do, or suggest an idea of what I’ve been wanting to do, and I’ll do it.
Let it be your practice. It’ll never be perfect, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to be.
Excuses or Effort?
You choose.
Hasta luego, un besito pal camino
XOXO