What Pay Yourself First Really Means

I've noticed, the one thing that makes a positive difference in my clients and patients lives is having enough energy. Enough energy to not just get through the day, but to be present with your loved ones at the end of the day.

Having enough energy so you have more than you need to draw upon is not about eating the right things, or exercising, or taking the magic supplement. It's about what you think. And it's about making self care an absolute must. Self care is the first thing you do each day, and more importantly, it's what you do through the day.

Most people think 'pay yourself first' is about paying over some money to themselves, before they pay the bills. It's not. It's about taking care of yourself, being that person who prioritises self care, so that you have the energy to do the things you need to do, to generate the life you've chosen to create. And that life is the one that you are in every single day.

Taking care of yourself on a deep level is what matters will show up in your bank account. There have been times when I ran myself a bit low. I needed to heal, but I pushed on. I ended up being burnt out. I ended up feeling worn out, wired and tired. I ignored it and just pressed on. But guess what happened?

As a herbalist, my patients started to fall away. You know, I started to get last minute cancellations and rebooks, less new patients. Why? I hadn't changed my marketing. Nothing about me had changed. And then I remembered:  physician heal thyself.

I wasn't in a space to serve. I didn't have the energy and the universe, in its infinite wisdom, registered that. And helped me take care of it.

Now I can't say I was pleased about this at the time, it took me a while to work it out. To see that correlation. Taking care of myself, through loving myself, gives me more energy.

Energy is like a bank account, right. The more we take care of ourselves, the more energy is in that bank. We enjoy life more. And isn't that, what life is about? Enjoying life?

How to Build Your Energy

There are a number of things that you can do in terms of your energy bank account. It's all about your way of being and your self care practices. So if you take care of yourself throughout the day, day by day, month, by month, year by year; you will have more energy to serve your clients. You have more energy for your family, for your workmates, for the people who work for you. And you can draw on that bank of energy when you're going through intense periods such as life events, or, as a business owner, if you're doing a launch.

Here are some ideas for self care

Here is a buffet that you can draw from and that you can add to. If you have other ideas for the self care list, please leave those suggestions in the comments so we can all benefit from it.

• A workout where you're including functional movement, balance, and flexibility work. Now if you're not sure how to do that, treat yourself to a personal trainer.
• Make a list of recovery activities and pull together your props ahead of time. So for me, my ultimate chillax is a nice cup of tea, made in a teapot, and served in a teacup on a tea tray with a book. So, for example, get yourself a stack of books going. Find that fancy pants teapot and teacup. If you live with others, agree a Do Not Disturb sign so that when you're in the midst of that book with your gorgeous cup of tea, you're not accidentally pulled into somebody else's agenda.
• Find your own way to meditate. Ideas include: listening to an app, Gregorian chants, reciting a mantra. For some people, it's staring at the garden, looking at a crystal, a flower or a candle. Find what works for you.
• Mindfulness based activities like colouring in, flower arranging, walking in the park.
• One of my favorites as a herbalist is that I like to make my own remedies and beauty products. Click Here for recipes that are on my blog, TracyTutty.com .
• Create an album on your phone, of heart lifting photos. Inlcude that perfect picture of walking the dog, or the cat smiling up at you, or spending time with the kids, or that perfect holiday. Just flick through them on your phone and just allow yourself to really enjoy that moment or relive that moment.

The trick to self care is based on three principles.

1. In terms of looking after your mind and body and your health, it's about bringing in movement that focuses on expansion.
2. In terms of your soul, it's about finding ways to bring more joy into the moment, and into your life. Whether it's getting out on the garden, looking at those photos, spending quality time with people you care about, taking the dog for a walk, patting the cat.
3. And in terms of the mindfulness, it's creating space in your brain through meditation or refer back to the white mist exercise which I shared in the last episode.

Find new ways to relax so that you can move from being wired and tired, to rest, to calm, to peace. Take a moment now and have a think about what you can do to pay yourself first.

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