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In this show:

1.    Why self-care is so important 

2.    A new definition of self-care

3.    Why I believe most don’t have a daily practice (and it’s probably not what you think!)

4.    Three traits of a successful practice 

Stress negatively impacts your body and your mind. If you’re stressed, you don’t think clearly. Self-care practices are related to less stress and a calm and clear mind (read: Better dissertations in less time with less stress!)

Gem #1: Adopting a simple self-care practice is the single most powerful thing you can do to unleash your genius

A calm and clear mind allows you to research more efficiently, think critically, write better, respond rather than react to feedback, and maintain harmonious relationships in and out of the school setting. 

Basic definition - Things we do to take care of our health, especially during times of stress (but so few do).

 Why don't we do it? 1) Ability, 2) Resources, 3) Lack of Joy 4) Time 

 Gem #2: A self-care practice expands time

How? A calm and clear mind allows you to tap your intuition which will guide you in managing activities. We cannot manage time, we can only manage activities and your intuition will help you do this (Check out episode #6 for more details on this point).

Try it: https://youtu.be/M4xXa6N7OnE

Why don’t we do it? Hidden in the belief that you don’t have time is that self-care is a selfish act.

Gem #3: As a species, most humans are short on self-love, the fuel that motivates a self-care practice. 

Picture a rocket going into space. Self-love is the rocket fuel that motivates you to practice self-care. When you do that, you can blast off to your genius best and highest self.

Let's redefine self-care so we can get out of this predicament. Self-care is any activity that provides evidence that you care about yourself. It is the expression of self-love, the rocket fuel to becoming you were meant to be. But it’s scary to step into your true and authentic superhero self. We talk about the imposter syndrome a lot in academia, but guess what? This is prevalent beyond the ivory tower. 

I’ve given you the problem; here is the solution: Start with self-care and self-love will follow. Don’t take my word for it; try it.

We have a divine seed of self-love. This seed of self-love is buried under layers and layers of junk (think of an onion). Take small steps towards a daily self-care practice and the layers will come off.

Let me show you how to do this: SEA.

S. Simple: What can you do in about 5 minutes?

E. Enjoyable: What sounds fun? *critically important*

A. Agile: Be ok with it changing

Viktor Frankl

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