Greetings Self-Care Warriors:

Thank you so much for your email and comments on the LoudenMouth blog! Keep 'em coming!

I am still wading...knee-deep, chest-deep, heart-deep in the new book. I sent my editor an email asking for a two week extension on my deadline, which was certainly a bit crazy-making for me.  I like being reliable. However, what means more to me than meeting my deadline is being as honest and transparent in this book as I can -- without, of course, complicating the process and useful information.

There is an edge, for me, as a writer, between wanting to be truthful and spinning off into areas few people are interested in. You must know that my highest goal is truth in service to you.

What's your highest creative goal these days?  Share your highest highs by dropping me a line at Jennifer@ComfortQueen.com.

See you at the top,

Self-Care Minder
Bare Minimums

Last week I asked you if you might share what helps you "turn toward your truth." I've also called this 'minimum self-care requirements' earlier issues. This is what I wrote today to be included in the book:

Between survival and a fully humming creative life lies the middle ground of minimum requirements for centering self-care -- a duded-up way of saying what you absolutely must have to stay in touch with your center.

These minimums aren't flashy or se.xy. It isn't about reaching for some fabulous dream or exploring a new passion.  But, without these nurturing nuggets, nothing else can be sustained.

When you reach a certain stage of commitment to yourself, you find that you are more than willing to give whatever attention and energy is needed to your basics. Which does not mean you won't stubbornly test this, of course.  'Do I really need that much sleep? Do I really have to go the bathroom again? Do I have to have to a conversation with my friend about hurting my feelings?"

Yet when you reach a certain level of consciousness (and age!), if you neglect your basics, you notice the fallout a lot faster and you realize you have a lot less leeway to stray from what is essential to you.

Let's take a look at which bare minimums are important to Self-Care reader, Lynn:

Daily:
- 8 hours of sleep each night, 1 nap on one weekend afternoon
- Time to myself in the morning before anyone else is awake
- Protein for breakfast
- Be near or touch plants and dirt or rocks and water: watch a river or take a bath or walk in rain or pay attention when drinking
- Be outdoors
- Have a time each day that all "have to's" stop -- for right now it is 8:00 PM

Weekly:
- Pay bills and balance checking account
- Date with my entire family doing something fun
- My women's group
- Kitchen desk organized and kitchen medium deep cleaned

Monthly:
- An afternoon alone doing whatever I want when I want to
- A date with my husband

Yearly:
- A spiritual retreat of some kind especially in nature
- Time with my extended family, especially my sisters

You may wonder why I ask you to state minimum requirements. Wouldn't it be far better to name your ideals and strive for those? My experience has been when I kept a list of everything I wanted to do for myself -- or thought would be good for me -- I made commitments I was incapable of keeping.

I call this "raising the bar"...never being satisfied with what we do or experience. Therefore, we rarely feel nourished or experience contentment, we live more and more in a place of "not enough" and farther and farther away from our center and natural shape of our lives. Minimum requirements are the foundation of Self-Care. Of course, like the tide, requirements ebb and flow depending on life conditions and age. When Chris was sick, my requirements went way down -- water, herbs, and that's about it.

I'd love to hear what your minimum requirements are and how you decided on them!  Shot a quick note to Jennifer@ComfortQueen.com.

Comfort Wishes
I wish for you to be curious sooner, worried later, and compassionate always. May your heartbeat carry you home.

Site Delights
Artella is a magazine and support network for writers, artists, and creative spirits.  To boost your creative brain power, check them out!

Comfort Reads
Positive Energy by Judith Orloff, M.D.
I passed on this book the first time because it seems to simplistic but on second look, I really like it. An inspiring take on self-care!

Becoming Real by Gail Saltz, M.D.
An excellent primer that may help you begin to deconstruct the stories that imprison you.