“Love…..is the fundamental energy of the Human Spirit, the fuel on which we run, the WELLSPRING of our Vitality.” ~ Gerald G. May
Are you a woman whose gifts to the world involve healing, energy work, health care, care-giving, teaching, raising children or simply giving love and compassion in order to support and elevate others in some way, shape, or form?
If yes, then this message is for you.
Are you a woman who gives her energy to those around her first and to herself last? Or do you give to yourself…..IF and only IF…..time and energy permits?
If yes or yes, then this message is definitely for you!
As one of the healers, energy workers, healthcare providers, care-givers, teachers, and mothers of the world, we need YOU to take care of YOUR-SELF. And, I know you know this. And, I know it too.
Yet, if you are anything like me, sometimes it is difficult to hear the voice of the “Lady of the WELL-SPRING”….. She is that higher part of your feminine being that speaks softly, reminding you that you need to take care of your Spirit and of your physical Body. She reminds you to replenish your own Vitality, to rejuvenate your Soul, and to restore your Life Force Energy. She is the SPRING where you go for rejuvenation, healing, cleansing and transformation. She is the SPRING that bubbles up through the WELL that is your physical body and is the source of Love…the source from which all of Life flows.
“There is a WELL-SPRING of Life within you where you can go for cleansing and transformation.” ~ DeePak Chopra
The WELL is the vessel, the Human Body. The SPRING is the Love, the Life Force Energy of your Soul that flows through you. If you deplete the Spring, the well goes dry. All that will be left is an empty vessel. You not only feel drained, you most likely will feel burned out. You may suffer illness. Ultimately, you don’t have the energy, nor the passion, to keep giving to others in the same way that you have for years. You certainly don’t have the energy to fulfill your Soul’s calling and purpose.
However, my friend, Mary (name has been changed), really knew this and talked about it. In fact, Mary talked about Self-Care a lot and she felt called to write a book. Oh…how important this was! When I listened to her, I pretty much took it for granted that I was doing what I needed to for Self-Care. I was getting chiropractic adjustments regularly. I was getting acupuncture and massage as needed. I was working out at the gym 3-4 times per week. I drank a lot of clean water and ate mostly whole foods. I was going to bed by 10 o’clock. I spent time with my daughter. I would go for walks and hikes in nature. I read books and would sometimes write in a journal. I made gratitude lists and vision boards. I was taking care of my physical body and my mindset. I was also taking care of my daughter, raising her, making a home for us, putting energy into growing my chiropractic practice and caring for the people I served.
However, what I thought was Self-Care was more of taking care of the Well and staying on schedule. There was less commitment and energy in truly rejuvenating my Soul and keeping the WELL-SPRING flowing through SACRED SELF-CARE. I certainly was not heeding the quiet voice of my inner Lady of the WELL-SPRING to slow down and savor any time spent in this kind of restorative self-care.
When Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a surprise to me since she was taking such good care of herself. She went through a variety of medical procedures, as well as natural modalities, and spiritual healing. She was vigilant about her own Self-Care and especially, SACRED SELF-CARE. She searched out the healers to support her, and even traveled to Hawaii to work with healers there. She embraced the daily practices of walking, eating whole foods, meditating, communing with nature and with Spirit. She knew that her Self-Care was far greater than just caring for her physical body and fighting disease. She knew that Self-Care and SACRED SELF-CARE was necessary whether she was expressing health and vitality, OR expressing sickness. She knew that it was not the WELL that was the source of Life, it was the SPRING that could only give LIFE to the WELL.
Mary did improve and then she didn’t. She died in November close to eight years ago. She was an example of shining Light, a Spring of Life, even when the Well of her Body finally failed. She was the first of three friends who died early in their lives. Their ages ranged between 36 and 58. I call these ladies the “Three Mary’s” because of their faith in the Divine and their healing talents that came in many forms. Although, their lives were short in comparison to what we might expect, they were committed to their own healing and transformation, as well as the healing and transformation of others. Although, it may seem like a contradiction that these women died, I believe it tells us that we can never, EVER, take for granted the taking care of our Body and of our Soul.
“Rest and (SACRED) SELF-CARE are so important. When you take time to replenish your SPIRIT, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You can not serve from an empty vessel.” ~ Eleanor Brownn
I feel strongly to pick up and carry on this message of SACRED SELF-CARE of these three Ladies. I was 36 when I felt a calling to pursue a healing profession and to study chiropractic. The beauty of Chiropractic is that it’s fundamental intention is to reconnect us physically and spiritually, from Above Down Inside Out. This year I turn 58 and I understand what the first Mary was talking about. After 22 years of multi-tasking and multi-performing from studying, working, caring for my daughter, building a business, and caring for clients, I have felt the drain physically with Adrenal Fatigue from not giving enough Self-Care and more importantly, not enough SACRED SELF-CARE. So many times I have not stopped to rest and heed the voice requesting me to do so from my higher self, my inner LADY of the WELL-SPRING. Any rejuvenating self-care that I engaged in seemed to be squeezed into a full, busy schedule of multi-tasking and multi-caring.
I expect, you have lived a similar life of much to do, and much to give, to many people in need of your attention, love, and talents. You are constantly getting out of bed, or returning from vacation, to once again “hit the ground running.” If we, the healers, energy workers, healthcare providers, care-givers, teachers, and mothers of the world, don’t practice Self-Care and SACRED SELF-CARE, how can we serve our families and the world? How can we teach them by our personal living example? Our focus needs to be on us first, to ensure our WELL-SPRING is overflowing because we can not serve from an empty vessel.
The challenge is that our culture promotes performance and productivity over Self-Care, especially over SACRED SELF-CARE. Within the medical model we take of ourselves when we have symptoms, feel sick, or express disease. If you look at some statistics, the average person is projected to have spent $10,345 in 2016 for “health care,” and yet we are not healthy as a country, or is our system healthy (1). In a survey of 16,000 people from 60 countries, the United States ranked 15 in the people’s view of the “best public ‘health care’ system” (2). And, the World Health Organization ranked the U.S. at 37 out of 190 countries in terms the quality of our “health care” system (3).
In a report put together by a panel of doctors, epidemiologists, demographers, and other researchers via the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine it was quoted that the U.S. has a “pattern of poorer health at ALL Stages of Life, from infancy to childhood to adolescence to young adulthood to middle and old age. Compared to people in other developed nations, Americans die far more often from injuries and homicides. We suffer more deaths from alcohol and other drugs, and endure some of the worst rates of heart disease, lung disease, obesity, and diabetes.” (4)
So where, when, and how does it change? I believe it does not start with the our system of health care…or rather sickness care. There is a time and place for sickness care. However, what the system does, which is sickness care, and what it it called…which is “Health Care”….is clearly a contradiction.
First, let’s call the system for the kind of care it provides which is symptom relief, sickness and disease care. Let’s be clear in our terminology and perhaps use the term Medical Care.
Second, I believe it starts with aligning our own inner values within each of us and how we choose each day to create health, vitality, express more life. Our actions and practices of daily living need to be in integrity with our values and philosophy. Health is a process. Disease is a process. All are a part of the process of living Life. What do YOU choose to create in your values, thoughts, feelings, and actions for your Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit???
So, let’s really start by choosing the side of the coin we ultimately wish to be on and do the best we can. Do YOUR best to create Health, Vitality and greater Life Expression every day with your choices and practices of living. Choose true health-care practitioners such as chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists, massage therapists, energy workers, etc, whose philosophy, purpose, procedures and teaching focus on healing, health, vitality, and life that support you in Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit throughout all your life stages…whether expressing symptoms or not. Also, know that you have sickness, or medical care, available through our country’s “medical system” when and if you…or your family…are in crisis care.
Also, I believe it starts with us, with women. We, the women…the mothers, care-givers, healers and teachers of the world…who birth and grow life in children, as well as in families, businesses, communities, etc. It starts with our caring for ourselves before we are pregnant and how we lead by example throughout ALL of our Stages of Life in our daily practices of living to create and grow Health, Vitality, and Life each and every day.
My belief is that we also need to pay very close attention and listen to our inner Lady of the WELL-SPRING, to head our intuition, re-connect to our feminine nature and stay on a path of genuine SACRED SELF-CARE. Because in the process of living and creating Life, it will also benefit our families, our clients, and our world if our vessel is full and overflowing with our inner WELL-SPRING.
Much LOVE to you…..
References: (1) http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/new-peak-us-health-care-spending-10345-per-person/
Way of the Feminine Force 