self care Archives - Page 5 of 5 - Nicole Clark Consulting

12 Jul, 2013

Self Care Corner: Create a 30 Day Gratitude Jar

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:12:59-04:00July 12th, 2013|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: self care, Self Care Corner|0 Comments

In order to raise your voice for others, you have to take care of yourself first. That’s where self care comes in. If you like this tip, be sure to sign up for the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive your copy of The Revolution Starts with Me! self care zine for more tips and self care resources.

It’s easy to become focused on the things that didn’t go well throughout your day. This week’s quick and easy tip will fix that:

1) Get an empty jar.

2) Before going to bed, write down one good thing that happened that day. If multiple good things happened, write them down on separate pieces of paper. (Feel free to list the date as well).

3) On the evening of 30th day, empty your jar and read through all the cool things that happened throughout the month.

4) Repeat for the next 30 days.

*Extra Credit: Save all of your pieces of paper, and look over them every 3-6 months, or even at the end of the year.

This exercise will train your brain to not only seek out a positive aspect in a situation, but it will also heighten your expectation of something great happening throughout your day.

RAISE YOUR VOICE: What you think about this week’s tip? Share your experience with this exercise below in the comments. Do you have a self care tip? Contact me to have it featured in an upcoming Self Care Corner post.

If you like this post, subscribe to the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive resources, advice, and tips to help you raise your voice for women and girls of color.

14 Jun, 2013

Self Care Corner: Intentional Boredom

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:13:23-04:00June 14th, 2013|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: self care, Self Care Corner|0 Comments

In order to raise your voice for others, you have to take care of yourself first. That’s where self care comes in. If you like this tip, be sure to sign up for the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive your copy of The Revolution Starts with Me! self care zine for more tips and self care resources.

This is one of my favorite self care exercises (and actually one of the most difficult to do)!

Created by Christine Kane, singer/songwriter and president/founder of UpLevel You , this self care exercise drives home how we often try to keep ourselves busy, fitting in so many activities to make ourselves believe that we’re being productive. What we need to realize, however, stillness (i.e., “not doing anything”) is when things start to happen. Christine says, “[We] think it’s all about the “doing.” And yes, there is some “doing”…But just as composers believe that a great piece of music is a lot about the rests in between the notes– I believe that a creative happy life is a lot about the rests between the activities.“

Christine calls this ”intentional boredom“, a period where you allow some down time in order for ideas and thoughts to flow. It’s where things begin to build. Think about strength training. When you lift weights, you damage the muscles fibers. However, your day of rest from lifting weights is when the muscle actually repairs itself, becoming stronger.

Intentional boredom can be very uncomfortable because we feel that we have to do something with our time. However, as author Echkart Tolle writes, ”As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it. As the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.“

So, try out this self care exercise for the next 7 days:

1 – Take out your calendar.

2 – Schedule in 10-minute blocks of “Intentional Boredom” time for 7 consecutive days, starting today.

3 – Show up at your scheduled time. Turn off distractions (your phone, the TV, etc.) and be still. It will feel uncomfortable, but think to yourself, “It’s only 10 minutes!” Allow whatever comes into your mind to flow in and out effortlessly. Consider this your me-time away from the everyday distractions in life.

RAISE YOUR VOICE: After at least 3 days of intentional boredom, share 3 things you noticed as you did this exercise in the comments below.

If you like this post, subscribe to the Raise Your Voice newsletter to receive resources, advice, and tips to help you raise your voice for women and girls of color.

27 Mar, 2013

Is Social Media Causing Your Activist Burnout?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:07:57-04:00March 27th, 2013|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: activism, self care|0 Comments

(Image source)

There are many benefits to using social media to engage in activism: there’s no cost, it’s readily accessible to many, it’s instant, and you can get the word out about what’s happening in your community.

But what about those moments when you see something on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or other networks you participate in, and you immediate react, and not in a good way? You can feel your body begin to tense up, your breathing becomes deeper, a slight headache starts to form, and your fingers start firing off status updates or tweets.

You may believe that you’re at your activist best when this happens. You’re passionate, enraged, and ready to take action. However, while using social media can be fun, educational, and a great way to mobilize others around your cause, it can also lead to feeling overwhelmed and burned out.

I’ve had multiple conversations with activist friends, spanning a wide array of social justice causes, and they tend to share the same sentiment: They want to make their voices heard to as many people as possible, but it often comes at the price of taking the time out for self care. They feel overwhelmed because they feel pressure (directly or indirectly) to have something to say in order to show their knowledge and leadership. They feel the pressure to always be on. They also feel guilt when they want to take a break from social media, especially when something crucial is happening in their movement.

Is the use of social media affecting your ability to be not only effective in your activism, but also to be mindful of your self care? Here are 4 ways to make sure you’re still socially engaged but also keeping activist burnout at bay.

You might be thinking, “Well, I know this stuff already.”

That’s good. But are you doing it?:
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18 Apr, 2012

Guest Post: The Revolution Starts with Me

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T17:44:47-04:00April 18th, 2012|Categories: Self & Community Care|Tags: Guest Posts, self care|0 Comments

This guest post is cross-posted from SouLar Bliss, and is written by Adaku Utah. Adaku Utah is the founder of SouLar Bliss, and is an activist, healer, teacher and performance artist committed to nurturing authentic expression within people and transformative and healing community spaces. She is a proud social justice co-consirator, committed love warrior and ever-evolving mover and shaker. Adaku has worked as the Social Change Initiatives Coordinator at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH), where she led ICAH in planning and implementing youth-adult partnership practices and coordinated state-wide sex education school board organizing initiatives. Currently, Adaku works with Project SAFE as a project facilitator, training and supporting youth and adults in educating and organizing around sexual health and reproductive justice issues.

Adaku & I co-facilitated a workshop called “The Revolution Starts with Me: Promoting Self-Care and Preventing Burnout” this past weekend. Check out Adaku’s awesome re-cap of the workshop, and be sure to check out SouLar Bliss for free and low-cost self care events in your area, Like Soular Bliss on Facebook, and follow Adaku on Twitter.

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This weekend Nicole Clark and I presented “The Revolution Starts With Me” at the 26th Annual Conference for Student and Community Activists: “From Abortion Rights to Social Justice” at Hampshire College. The Revolution Starts with me is a workshop that utilizes healing practices, interactive activities, storytelling, and skill-sharing, to support activists and social justice organizations in thinking more critically about the importance of prioritizing self-care. Together we explore and grapple with how we practice self-care in a world that does not prioritize our self care, how we carve space for ourselves when we’re being pulled in multiple directions, how schools, agencies, collective spaces and community organizations support us in prioritizing self-care, how we create sustainable practices that not only prevent burnout but allow self care to thrive in our lives on a consistent basis. Throughout the workshop everyone in the workshop individually and collectively share a wealth of practical recipes, remedies, rituals and resources that support short and long term self and community care.

We had a brilliant mix of 40 folks!! Here is some of what we shared with each other during the workshop. Thank you soo much to everyone that came out. What a blessing and honor it was to build community and sacred space to be and share with each other.

RECIPES

Recipe to Deal With A Toxic Boss
Remember that your emotions are equally important.
Create boundaries-as many as permitted without risking your job.
Stop trying to manage their emotions. This is not your job and you dont have to do this.
If their toxicity is more than you can bear, get out of there. Without shame or guilt.

Recipe for Grounding Yourself
When things are overwhelming and I feel emotionally overwhelming the advocacy center taught me how to ground. Focus on your breath and let yourself feel your feet grounded. Point out three or more physical things around you to let you know you’re still alive. Use sensory description when you are doing this (I see the clock is blue, I feel the soft carpet, I smell sweetness). Remind yourself of 5 positive things that have happened to you recently. Remind yourself of positivity in the future.

Recipe for Sadness: hug a puppy! If you don’t have a puppy, google puppy pictures

Recipe for Burnout: Make sure people know just how much you are doing!!

Recipe for an Over-Worked and Goal-Oriented Person
Create a longterm plan of modest goals with self care. This will provide structure and provide satisfaction in the accomplishment of the goals. Example joining a sports team creates a solid schedule for an individual to follow, and hopefully the athletics provide an enjoyable and soul-full opportunity to relieve emotional/mental exhaustion, and to help reduce long-term physical exhaustion.

Recipe for Empowerment
1 verse Lauryn Hill
1 poem Audre Lorde
1 verse Erykah Badu
1 poem Assata Shakur

Recipe for Self love-winter version :cup of tea, blankets/pillows, book/magazines/tv show (not work related), closed door, phone off ,computer off

Recipe for Self Love-summer version
comfortable clothes, go for a walk, leave phone off or at home, bring a friend (animal or human). Take 1 hr (Suggestions: stop and sit at a park bench, bring a picnic, go somewhere with nature)

Recipe for Self Care
Snuggle up with my puppy and watch lady and the tramp with a big bowl of spongebob kraft mac & cheese. Generic will not do. Also, don’t wear pants!!

Free Write Recipe
Get a piece of blank paper. Set a clock for 5 mins. Begin to write whatever comes to your mind, don’t worry about spelling errors, messy hand writing, or anything that would effect you from writing whatever comes to your mind. You don’t have to write names or anything. Whatever comes to your mind is what goes on the paper, unscripted.

Recipe Build an Altar to Your “Dark Selves”
The things that debilitate or torment you about yourself are the things to embrace, celebrate, and bring into the light. Honor all you are even the balanced dark.

7 Divine Words of Self Affirmation : I AM-Whole, Perfect, Powerful, Strong, Loving, Harmonious and Happy

Vegan Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
This is my go to comfort food to soothe my soul. I don’t use measurements sorry. Fill a pan with olive oil and one diced onion on high heat. Once it starts to simmer, add flour slowly while stirring, until it takes on a smooth but very thick consistency. Turn heat to medium low, stir and let chill. Add seasonings. I like cajun seasoned salt, rosemary & thyme, but anything will work. Transport to a pot and add vegetable broth while stirring until it takes on a consistency slightly more liquify than desired. Add veggies of choice. I like kale, corn, peans, carrots and tomatoes. Let it hang out on low heat.TATERS: Boil potatoes. Once soft, drain water. Mash with chives, soy milk, olive oil, salt and earth balance.

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