Episode Transcript
We Americans enjoy a wonderful and powerful way of life, but internally and in relationships we may wish for better. Join me as we look beneath the surface and gain insights to transform every aspect of your life. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare, and this is the Spiritual American. Hello everyone and welcome to the Spiritual American. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare, and I'm your host. And today we'll be talking about self-care. I've done many talks on self-care and many classes on self-care, but I have come to some understandings. Recently, and I think I'm going to approach it a little differently than maybe we have before. Very important topic. So self care, whenever anybody talks about self care. What do you think of when you hear the words self-care? It's a nice catch word now, and it's very much needed because I think previously we've all been outwardly focused, maybe not paying attention to our feelings and things like that. Self-care could mean diet, exercise, about the body, and of course, that's important. But what about the self, the internal self? I'm gonna use the word soul. So if you've been watching these other episodes, you've heard me talk about what Raja Yoga meditation is, and that the main principle is that I am a soul. We're all souls, we're all unique beings, and we're all living consciousness. So we are having this experience in bodies with families and speaking in language and different societies and different education, and our mind works by gathering information and making memories and so forth. And we live our life like that as human beings. So if I say self-care and I say. What if I am the soul and the soul is the self. So if the soul is the self, then how do I take care of the soul? I'm gonna talk about this briefly and then we're gonna have a little reflection at the end of this short talk. So the soul. Living consciousness. We could say also in the beginning we say point of light, like a point of living consciousness. Maybe you've heard of like the point of light in the center of the forehead. The third eye, it's a representation of the soul. The living being that's using the body, but the living being is a being. Think about feelings for a minute. If I say I love you. That love doesn't have any time attached to it. It doesn't have a body attached to it. It exists beyond that. So when we say we're gonna now take care of the soul, what do you think the needs of the soul are? Okay, so as a soul, my nature is peace. My nature is stillness. My nature is benevolence. My nature is purity. My nature is wisdom. My nature is harmony, being in harmony. So if I am the soul and I'm gonna take care of myself, the soul, I'm going to say the best way to take care of the soul is to give myself experiences of those qualities. Peace, stillness, love. You could say happiness, wisdom, purity. Those are the things that enrich the soul. The soul meaning the self. So, one other thought and then we'll do a short reflection. Imagine that you're taking care of a baby. Many of you have children, and even if you don't have children. You can imagine. Have you ever had to babysit? Do you have a spouse or a close family member that you've had to maybe take care of? Or have you ever been there for someone, maybe even as a soldier or in a situation where you feel very close to someone where you take on the responsibility for them in your heart? That's the type of commitment. And commitment sounds like a hard word, but it's a commitment of the heart. It's a commitment of the heart, a giving of the heart. You could call it sacrifice. It's a sacrifice of the heart in the sense that you are willing to give for that person's benefit. So if I am the soul and I'm trying to take care of myself as the soul, what would I be willing to do to take care of myself? So for instance, when you have a baby, the baby needs to eat. The baby needs to sleep, there's developmental things that the baby needs, and the parents are basically surrendered for the care of that child. Now, if you asked a parent, they may say, oh, I love my child. Naturally you love the child. So the love of the child gives you the power to get, do the sacrifice, to take care of the child. And maybe sometimes it's hard. Maybe sometimes it's challenging. Maybe sometimes it's con confrontational. Maybe some of you can see where I'm going with this. If I say that meditation is the primary way to take care of the self, to take care of the soul, think about the all the issues we have with meditation. Aren't they kind of the same issues that you have when you take care of somebody? Maybe you have to put other priorities aside. Maybe you have to swallow your ego. Maybe you have to have a discipline or give, make sure that that person has what they need. So today, I'm suggesting that we can look at this in the same way when we look at the self. Self is the soul. And I'm gonna take care of the soul. How am I gonna take care of the soul? I'm gonna give peace, create circumstances so the soul can feel peace. The soul can feel stillness, the soul can feel generous. Benevolence is the nature of the soul. So let's try a reflection now. I'm not calling this meditation. I'm calling it reflection because I'm gonna ask some questions and you can follow along with yourself and you can even later stop the video and play it again so that you can maybe reflect, give yourself a chance to ask yourself these questions. So just sitting quietly, we'll just take a moment and ask myself these reflection questions. When I think of myself, what do I automatically think of? Do I think of my age? Do I think of my gender? Do I think of my job? Do I think of my family? Do I think of my nationality? What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say. Who am I? Where am I? What is, when I say myself, what do I mean? Just notice the answers that come up. Second question is, if I was to try to think of myself as a soul, how do I feel about that? Do I feel resistance? Do I feel, is there a voice coming in saying, ah, this is just another whatever. Or is there a curiosity maybe, well, what does that mean? Maybe if I am a soul, what does that mean? So take note of what happens inside your mind when you think that you're a soul. Third question. As a soul, my nature is peace. My nature is peace. Check inside and see if that feels true for you. Does that feel like the truth? Even if you're not experiencing it right now. Does it feel like the truth? I'm a soul and my nature is peace. Okay. Fourth question. When I think about self care, what is the first thing I think of? Do I think of eating? Do I think of exercise? Do I think of taking time to rest? What do I think of? Just notice what you think of. Last question. Fifth question. If I am a soul and my nature is peace, can I see that meditation would help me to give myself, the soul, the peace and attention and care that it needs? Just like a baby needs attention. People need attention. Everyone needs attention. So check and see. Is that something that makes sense? Can I see meditation as self-care, an opportunity for me to create an environment of peace and stillness to nurture and help myself, my actual self to feel stable and to grow. So that was the last question, so I am going to leave it there. I encourage you to maybe think about this and see if any of this rings true. The main principle to think of is that I'm a soul. And if I'm a soul, how do I take care of myself? And that meditation is a primary self-care practice. Okay, so I will leave it there. Remember, our slogan is heal, empower, and serve. And until next time, take care.
