Quotes About Self-care

We all have the power to choose to forgive, and in doing so, we give back the painful wound to the one who is ultimately responsible—the abuser. We're then free to move on because we've removed a burden.

when you allow yourself to release the burdens caused by other people's abuses and addictions. Because these aren't your fault, it's not necessary to carry them forever. Forgive and take responsibility by choosing to learn and grow from your trials and deciding to move forward in spite of them.

I was being cured of soldiering on endlessly: my job was now to be still, which had become almost easy at last.

Listen to me, Siddalee, and listen good: There is no excuse to let your looks go, no matter how poor you are. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but honey let me tell you, ugliness will get you nowhere.

Your feelings are the utmost priority, your desires are more important than anyone else's deadline or mandate.

loving, instead of depleting and effortful. Some pussification practices have become daily rituals. I take a bath instead of a shower because it makes me feel more relaxed and beautiful. I use lavender-scented Epsom salts because they smell nicer than the plain ones. After the bath I use coconut oil on my skin; it smells beautiful and nourishes the skin deeply.

Negative attention desecrates our altar. But we women have been giving ourselves negative attention so consistently, and for so long, that we do not even see it as a problem.

We have no experience prioritizing our own joy or making an investment in ourselves. But it is very easy to say yes to responsibility and obligation. We are highly motivated when we can be of service to someone else.

How easy it is to be compassionate when it's yourself you see in trouble.

Whatever harm I would do to another, I shall do first to myself. As I respect and am kind to myself, so shall I respect and be kind to peers, to elders, to kits. I claim for others the freedom to live as they wish, to think and believe as they will. I claim that freedom for myself. I shall make each choice and live each day to my highest sense of right.

When everything is at its worst, your mind just throws it all into the wastebasket and goes to Florida for a little while. There is a sudden electric what-the-hell glow as you stand there looking back over your shoulder at the bridge you just burnt down.

Your protectors' goals for your life revolve around keeping you away from all that pain, shame, loneliness, and fear, and they use a wide array of tools to meet those goals—achievements, substances, food, entertainment, shopping, sex, obsession with your appearance, caretaking, meditation, money, and so on.

My best friend, Benjamin Shield, taught me this valuable lesson. Often our inner struggles come from our tendency to jump on board someone else's problem; someone throws you a concern and you assume you must catch it, and respond.

We take our own goals so seriously that we forget to have fun along the way, and we forget to cut ourselves some slack.

A low mood is not the time to analyze your life. To do so is emotional suicide.

Most people have it backward. When they are feeling down, they roll up their sleeves and get to work. They take their low moods very seriously and try to figure out and analyze what's wrong. They try to force themselves out of their low state, which tends to compound the problem rather than solve it.

Let Go of the Idea that Gentle, Relaxed People Can't Be Superachievers

I don't look in mirrors anymore. It's cheaper than surgery.

These are pious, clean-living men, worshipping at the temple of their own bodies." "Hmm. Sounds distinctly erotic.

I think I could learn a little patience with myself if I took a view of myself that included concepts like dormancy (instead of laziness), seed planting (instead of just scattered), gestation (instead of doing-something-right-this-second).

When we let ourselves write from love, when we let ourselves steal minutes as gifts to ourselves, our lives become sweeter, our temperaments become sweeter.

The trick to finding writing time is to make writing time in the life you've already got.

Practice being kind to yourself in small, concrete ways.

True life is lived when tiny changes occur. LEO TOLSTOY Creative living requires the luxury of time, which we carve out for ourselves—even if it's fifteen minutes for quick morning pages and a ten-minute minibath after work.