Synopsis: Exercising your gifts helps to find equilibrium faster and easier.
I was feeling unsettled recently and I have been doing lots of meditations, grounding, and releasing to rebalance. It was helping but that sense of something still not attended to was there. I kept pushing through as I was doing everything I knew to do.
It was only after encountering a problem and working out a solution that I realized what the unsettled feeling was stemming from. I was cleaning and realized that I was going through at least 4 Swiffer duster refills per occurrence. That is a lot if one doesn’t want to spend $18 or more on a box of refills. I decided to look for options. I found a YouTube video on how to make your own refills. I am a sewer and designer so the instructions looked easy. All I had to do was buy the cloths. I stopped by the store and found the exact number of cloths I was seeking. I reviewed my notes on the dimensions and measured the name brand refills. I realized that the video dimensions were a bit generous, and I was able to reduce the dimensions based on the approximate refill dimensions. I set about pressing, marking, measuring, and taking notes of my process to refer to in the future. I am fortunate that I have a great pair of very sharp scissors to cut through the felt-like cloth pieces. I then sat down and sewed the pieces and realized that I needed to adjust the allowance for the inserts after using two finished refills. I then re-stitched the allowances and ripped out the former stitches. At the end, I made 11 pieces. That would be at least 5 changes if using two duster refills at a time, which I do. I had 7 base pieces left over so I can make more in future.
In doing all of the sewing, I realized that I hadn’t done anything creative with my hands and mind in a while. It was actually like meditation for the soul. I had forgotten that I need to be creative on a regular basis or my hands get antsy. I guess it is easy to forget our innate needs when our attention is focused elsewhere.
In reviewing my experience tonight, I realize that I need to schedule in creative time for my hands. A psychic once told me that my mother was an artist and I was born with artistry in my hands and that my mother would like me to use the gift. It’s so easy to forget our natural talents. It is with new understanding that self-care includes blocking out time on a regular basis for our gifts, whatever those may be.
Are you regularly scheduling time to practice your gifts? If not, can you figure out a way to incorporate the practice? What benefit will it provide if you do? What will be the consequence if you don’t?
I am finding that raising myself (self-care) is about understanding my values and my gifts and honoring them by committing time so that I am balanced and have flow.
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