MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF

 Understand the theoretical underpinnings for how to manage and care for different
aspects of the self.
 Acquire and hone new skills and learnings for better managing of one’s self and
behaviours.
 Apply these new skills to one’s self and functioning for a better quality of life.

A. Learning to be a better student.

Ever wondered why you just can't seem to reach your full academic potential? It's likely
that your brain isn't the cause but, rather, your lifestyle. Review the following steps, which
outline simple changes you can make and soon you'll be on your way to becoming the
student you've always wanted to become.
1. Set goals Goals, both short and long-term, are a great way to measure your success.
If you don’t have goals in sight, you have nothing to achieve or strive for in your courses.
If you set concrete goals for yourself, it’s easier to become motivated and measure your
success in those goals. Make sure your goals are realistic! While you should challenge
yourself, you shouldn't set yourself up for failure, either. Remember, you can always set
higher goals once you've achieved your first set.
2. Adopt and stick to a study schedule Scheduling is vital to maintaining a healthy
learning balance and keeping up with rigorous courses.
3. Stay well-rested If you’re awake and alert, you’re certainly more likely to absorb
information given in class, during study sessions and in class activities and participation.
Think of it as an equation: awake + alertness = A’s.
4. Take advantage of educator resources In addition to attending class, there are a
variety of resources available to aid students in thriving and achieving in class. TA’s, office
hours and study review sessions are amongst the resources offered within specific
classes. Additionally, many high schools and colleges offer tutoring sessions free of
charge to students who seek extra help with their courses.
5. Healthy study techniques for proper exam preparation Study techniques
considered “healthy” include balance, time-management and avoiding all-night study
“cram” sessions. Information is certainly easier to absorb when reviewed in increments,
rather than procrastinating until the last minute.
6. Develop note-taking skills Listening and taking notes actively during class not only
ensures the recording of accurate information, but also reinforces the information through
recording the information as you take it in. Have you ever gone back to your notes when
it comes time to study for the exam and find that they are illegible or difficult to
understand? It's helpful to go over your note after class and either rewrite them or outline
the key information while it's still fresh in your mind. You'll find it's much easier to utilize
your notes and retain clearer information, come exam time. Clearly, it also provides you
with any important information that was only mentioned in class when it comes time to
review and study the exam material.
7. Extracurricular activities Try to create a life outside of academics, like participation
in extracurricular activities, such as intramural sports or college clubs. Contrary to popular
belief, extracurricular activities increase a student’s overall college experience, contribute
to the learning process and aiding in balancing scheduling skills.
8. Study buddies Collaborating with other students is a great way to learn - as long as
you're sure to choose students who you'll stay on task with. Try finding various students
in your class, rather than friends you already have. It can expand your social group and
you're more likely to stay focused on the school work. Students who form study groups
with one another can often learn more through learning by teaching. When students
explain concepts to one another, they are able to learn and absorb the information more
easily. Inversely, students that may need clarification on areas of study are able to ask
peers in order to be able to better understand the course materials.
9. Take advantage of school resources Utilizing school resources for setting goals and
creating positive study habits tremendously aids in a student’s success. School resources
are abundant and students who take advantage of such resources are much more likely
to succeed. Such resources include the utilization of school libraries, career centers and
school centers that provide tutoring and knowledge (for example: student writing centers,
math centers, etc.).
10. Take on a manageable course load When taking on a well-balanced course load,
students are more likely to succeed because of realistic expectations in the work load that
can be handled successfully.
11. Attendance This should be common sense – if students go to class, they will likely
become more successful in the course. Obviously, the course material is presented
during class periods and students that are paying attention tend to learn while in class
and, thus, are more likely to perform well on exams.
12. Participation Going to class is one thing but paying attention and participating in
class is another. If you listen
on as well. Whatever you do, DO NOT wait until it comes time to study for the exam!
What happens during learning? Brain and Behavior changes.

Abstract
Although the brain was once seen as a rather static organ, it is now clear that the
organization of brain circuitry is constantly changing as a function of experience. These
changes are referred to as brain plasticity, and they are associated with functional
changes that include phenomena such as memory, addiction, and recovery of function.
Recent research has shown that brain plasticity and behavior can be influenced by a
myriad of factors, including both pre- and postnatal experience, drugs, hormones,
maturation, aging, diet, disease, and stress. Understanding how these factors influence
brain organization and function is important not only for understanding both normal and
abnormal behavior, but also for designing treatments for behavioral and psychological
disorders ranging from addiction to stroke.
Keywords:
addiction; recovery; experience; brain plasticity

Metacognitive Study Strategies

Do you spend a lot of time studying but feel like your hard work doesn’t help your
performance on exams? You may not realize that your study techniques, which may have
worked in high school, don’t necessarily translate to how you’re expected to learn in
college. But don’t worry—we’ll show you how to analyze your current strategies, see
what’s working and what isn’t, and come up with new, more effective study techniques.
To do this, we’ll introduce you to the idea of “metacognition,” tell you why metacognition
helps you learn better, and introduce some strategies for incorporating metacognition into
your studying.
What is metacognition and why should I care?
Metacognition is thinking about how you think and learn. The key to metacognition is
asking yourself self-reflective questions, which are powerful because they allow us to take
inventory of where we currently are (thinking about what we already know), how we learn
(what is working and what is not), and where we want to be (accurately gauging if we’ve
mastered the material). Metacognition helps you to be a self-aware problem solver and
take control of your learning.
By using metacognition when you study, you can be strategic about your approach. You
will be able to take stock of what you already know, what you need to work on, and how
best to approach learning new material.
Strategies for using metacognition when you study
Below are some ideas for how to engage in metacognition when you are studying. Think
about which of these resonate with you and plan to incorporate them into your study
routine on a regular basis.
Use your syllabus as a roadmap
Look at your syllabus. Your professor probably included a course schedule, reading list,
learning objectives or something similar to give you a sense of how the course is
structured. Use this as your roadmap for the course. For example, for a reading-based
course, think about why your professor might have assigned the readings in this particular
order. How do they connect? What are the key themes that you notice? What prior
knowledge do you have that could inform your reading of this new material? You can do
this at multiple points throughout the semester, as you gain additional knowledge that you
can piece together.
Summon your prior knowledge
Before you read your textbook or attend a lecture, look at the topic that is covered and
ask yourself what you know about it already. What questions do you have? What do you
hope to learn? Answering these questions will give context to what you are learning and
help you start building a framework for new knowledge. It may also help you engage more
deeply with the material.
Think aloud
Talk through your material. You can talk to your classmates, your friends, a tutor, or even
a pet. Just verbalizing your thoughts can help you make more sense of the material and
internalize it more deeply. Talking aloud is a great way to test yourself on how well you
really know the material. In courses that require problem solving, explaining the steps
aloud will ensure you really understand them and expose any gaps in knowledge that you
might have. Ask yourself questions about what you are doing and why.
Ask yourself questions
Asking self-reflective questions is key to metacognition. Take the time to be introspective
and honest with yourself about your comprehension. Below are some suggestions for
metacognitive questions you can ask yourself.
 Does this answer make sense given the information provided?
 What strategy did I use to solve this problem that was helpful?
 How does this information conflict with my prior understanding?
 How does this information relate to what we learned last week?
 What questions will I ask myself next time I’m working these types of problems?
 What is confusing about this topic?
 What are the relationships between these two concepts?
 What conclusions can I make?
Try brainstorming some of your own questions as well.

Use writing
Writing can help you organize your thoughts and assess what you know. Just like thinking
aloud, writing can help you identify what you do and don’t know, and how you are thinking
about the concepts that you’re learning. Write out what you know and what questions you
have about the learning objectives for each topic you are learning.
Organize your thoughts
Using concept maps or graphic organizers is another great way to visualize material and
see the connections between the various concepts you are learning. Creating your
concept map from memory is also a great study strategy because it is a form of self-
testing.
Take notes from memory
Many students take notes as they are reading. Often this can turn notetaking into a
passive activity, since it can be easy to fall into just copying directly from the book without
thinking about the material and putting your notes in your own words. Instead, try reading
short sections at a time and pausing periodically to summarize what you read from
memory. This technique ensures that you are actively engaging with the material as you
are reading and taking notes, and it helps you better gauge how much you’re actually
remembering from what you read; it also engages your recall, which makes it more likely
you’ll be able to remember and understand the material when you’re done.
Review your exams
Reviewing an exam that you’ve recently taken is a great time to use metacognition. Look
at what you knew and what you missed. Try using this handout to analyze your
preparation for the exam and track the items you missed, along with the reasons that you
missed them. Then take the time to fill in the areas you still have gaps and make a plan
for how you might change your preparation next time.
Take a timeout
When you’re learning, it’s important to periodically take a time out to make sure you’re
engaging in metacognitive strategies. We often can get so absorbed in “doing” that we
don’t always think about the why behind what we are doing. For example, if you are
working through a math problem, it’s helpful to pause as you go and think about why you
are doing each step, and how you knew that it followed from the previous step.
Throughout the semester, you should continue to take timeouts before, during or after
assignments to see how what you’re doing relates to the course as a whole and to the
learning objectives that your professor has set.
Test yourself
You don’t want your exam to be the first time you accurately assess how well you know
the material. Self-testing should be an integral part of your study sessions so that have a
clear understanding of what you do and don’t know. Many of the methods described are
about self-testing (e.g., thinking aloud, using writing, taking notes from memory) because
they help you discern what you do and don’t actually know. Other common methods
include practice tests and flash cards—anything that asks you to summon your
knowledge and check if it’s correct.
Figure out how you learn
It is important to figure out what learning strategies work best for you. It will probably vary
depending on what type of material you are trying to learn (e.g. chemistry vs. history), but
it will be helpful to be open to trying new things and paying attention to what is effective
for you. If flash cards never help you, stop using them and try something else instead.
Making an appointment with an academic coach at the Learning Center is a great chance
to reflect on what you have been doing and figuring out what works best for you.

MANAGING YOUR OWN LEARNING

- JAMES R. DAVIS
The Age of Perpetual Learning
For many of us, living as we do in this fast-paced high-tech era, life is like trying to change
a tire on a car while the car is still moving. It is a bizarre image, like something from a
recurring dream—you can’t possibly do what is expected, but you know your life depends
on it. This is no dream. This is twenty-first-century reality. The only constant is change.
Our only hope is perpetual learning.
Everyone today is either trying to get ahead, catch up, or keep from falling behind. Many
people are trying to learn something just to survive—but learning is not fundamentally
about survival, even though it often helps us to get through tough situations. Learning is
the key to flourishing and prospering in this new era. Learning awakens our sensibilities,
enables us to actualize our aspirations, and takes us places we never dreamed of going.

SELF REGULATED LEARNING

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is one of the domains of self-regulation, and is aligned
most closely with educational aims. Broadly speaking, it refers to learning that is guided
by metacognition (thinking about one's thinking), strategic action (planning, monitoring,
and evaluating personal progress against a standard), and motivation to learn. "Self-
regulated" describes a process of taking control of and evaluating one's own learning and
behavior.
Self-regulated learning emphasizes autonomy and control by the individual who monitors,
directs, and regulates actions toward goals of information acquisition, expanding
expertise, and self-improvement”. In particular, self-regulated learners are cognizant of
their academic strengths and weaknesses, and they have a repertoire of strategies they
appropriately apply to tackle the day-to-day challenges of academic tasks. These learners
hold incremental beliefs about intelligence (as opposed to entity, or fixed views of
intelligence) and attribute their successes or failures to factors (e.g., effort expended on
a task, effective use of strategies) within their control.
Finally, students who are self-regulated learners believe that opportunities to take on
challenging tasks, practice their learning, develop a deep understanding of subject matter,
and exert effort will give rise to academic success (Perry et al., 2006). In part, these
characteristics may help to explain why self-regulated learners usually exhibit a high
sense of self-efficacy. In the educational psychology literature, researchers have linked
these characteristics to success in and beyond school.
Self regulated learners are successful because they control their learning environment.
They exert this control by directing and regulating their own actions toward their learning
goals. Self regulated learning should be used in three different phases of learning. The
first phase is during the initial learning, the second phase is when troubleshooting a
problem encountered during learning and the third phase is when they are trying to teach
others.

B. SETTING GOALS FOR SUCCESS

Did you know that less than 3 percent of Americans have written goals, and of those who
do less than 1 percent review and rewrite their goals on a regular basis?
This means that as soon as you start setting goals and reviewing them regularly, you’ll
be ahead of 99% of the population in terms of the potential to become successful.
If you want to accomplish something in life, financial independence for example, and you
don’t establish clear and specific goals it’s more like day dreaming than goal setting.

Ask yourself the following four questions to discern if your goals qualify as goals or if they
can be considered as day dreaming. In the examples below I use becoming rich as a
goal, but these questions can be applied no matter what kind of goal you want to achieve.
Is this goal specific? Becoming rich is a dream, and to turn this dream into a goal you
need to put numbers on it. Instead of having the goal to become rich, which really isn’t a
goal, your goal can be specified as building a net worth of $1 million.
Is this goal actionable? Hoping to become rich by winning the lottery is a dream. A goal
needs to be something that you can take action on, preferably right now. Becoming
wealthy through starting a business is actionable.

Does this goal have a time limit? ”I am going to be worth $1 million one day”, or ”Some
day I will go to France”, or ”Some day I will change career”, all of those are goals, but they
can be improved. When you set a deadline, that’s when the magic really begins to
happen. ”I am going to be worth $1 million in seven years”, or ”I will go to France within
three years”, now those are better examples of correct goal setting.

Is this goal realistic? Building a $1 million net worth in seven years is totally reasonable,
but setting the goal of building $1 million net worth in three months is just not realistic. It
is possible, but not realistic. While it’s important to not set the bar too high, it’s just as
important not to set the bar too low. If you feel scared by your goal but still feel that you
can accomplish it, that’s when you know you have set the bar at an appropriate level.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOALS

Goals are objectives or desired purposes of accomplishments or achievements that you
hope to aspire to. They are usually obtained by following a series of steps and applying
effort towards the activities that progress you towards the accomplishment.
A goal doesn’t only establish a path or a journey towards a specific direction, but also
enhances your level of motivation while influencing your level of confidence as you
embark on various endeavors.

Understanding the importance of goals and how to strive to achieve them is significant as
it increases the likelihood of you achieving your dreams while you follow your own recipe
of actions, steps, and accounts that will help you get there.

Without creating goals, you would have an idea of what you hope to obtain, but not a set
plan of how to actually get there. For that reason, it is imperative to have clear goals as
they will be the motivators to keep on moving.
Think of how a house is built – the engineer needs to carefully create the plans and be
as detailed as possible. Without this plan, the house would not be built properly and would
most likely fall apart. The same concept applies to goals. A carefully set of plans will allow
you to build up your objectives whereas the lack of planning would make the objectives
fall apart.
So many aspects in life dependent upon proper planning in order to be successful and
content, not setting goals only leads to disappointment and imminent failure. At the very
least, a goal provides a direction in life- one that improves our chances of feeling
complete.

BANDURA’S SELF EFFICACY

Self-efficacy is, according to psychologist Albert Bandura who originally proposed the
concept, a personal judgment of "how well one can execute courses of action required to
deal with prospective situations". Expectations of self-efficacy determine whether an
individual will be able to exhibit coping behavior and how long effort will be sustained in
the face of obstacles. Individuals who have high self-efficacy will exert sufficient effort
that, if well executed, leads to successful outcomes, whereas those with low self-efficacy
are likely to cease effort early and fail. Psychologists have studied self-efficacy from
several perspectives, noting various paths in the development of self-efficacy; the
dynamics of self-efficacy, and lack thereof, in many different settings; interactions
between self-efficacy and self-concept; and habits of attribution that contribute to, or
detract from, self-efficacy. Educator Kathy Kolbe adds, "Belief in innate abilities means
valuing one's particular set of cognitive strengths. It also involves determination and
perseverance to overcome obstacles that would interfere with utilizing those innate
abilities to achieve goals." Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavor. By
determining the beliefs, a person holds regarding their power to affect situations, it
strongly influences both the power a person actually has to face challenges competently
and the choices a person is most likely to make. These effects are particularly apparent,
and compelling, with regard to behaviors affecting health.

DWECK’S MINDSET (GROWTH VS. FIXED)

Mindset Theory
Your intelligence and other characteristics – where do they come from? Can they
change?
People vary in the degree to which they attribute the causes of intelligence and other
traits. Are they innate and fixed factors (“fixed” mindset) or are they variable factors that
can be influenced through learning, effort, training, and practice (“growth” mindset)? A
“growth” mindset is generally seen as more advantageous.
Mindset Theory – Fixed vs. Growth Mindset (Dweck)
Dweck proposed that the implicit theories that people hold for the nature and causes of
intelligence have a number of implications, particularly for motivation to practice and
learn. In her earlier research, Dweck identified “entity" and “incremental" theorists, based
on whether individuals attributed success in tasks that required intelligent behavior to
having sufficient native aptitude (entity) versus having practiced a skill and improving
performance over time (incremental). Eventually, she proposed a theory of “mindset" to
integrate a number of related ideas that she had developed over the years. “Mindset"
refers to implicit theories that individuals hold regarding the nature of intelligent behavior;
to the degree that individuals attribute intelligence to fixed traits, they hold a “fixed" theory
of intelligence (that is, a fixed mindset), and to the degree that they attribute intelligence
to learning, effort, training, and practice, they hold a “growth" theory of intelligence (that
is, a growth mindset). The terms fixed and growth mindset replaced the earlier terms for
entity and incremental theories of intelligence.
Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that their qualities (such as intelligence
and other personality traits) are “set in stone”– how God made you is basically who
you are. One’s traits are fixed — not something that can be practiced or developed.
Individuals with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe that effort or training
can change one’s qualities and traits.
Individuals with a fixed mindset tend to be interested only in feedback on their success in
activities to the degree that it serves to evaluate their underlying ability. They are not using
the feedback to learn, since they do not believe that their success depends on their effort
to learn. Rather, they believe that success depends on the level of innate ability that they
have. Therefore, they dread failure, because it suggests constraints or limits that they will
not be able to overcome.
A growth mindset, on the other hand, attributes success to learning. Therefore, the
individual is not terrified of failure, because it only signals the need to pay attention, invest
effort, apply time to practice, and master the new learning opportunity. They are confident
that after such effort they will be able to learn the skill or knowledge, and then to improve
their performance.

LOCKE’S GOAL SETTING THEORY

Locke’s primary revelation was around the power of setting specific and measurable
goals, rather than keeping outcomes general. With his theory he demonstrated how
targets like “increase sales by 20%” or “reach a customer NPS of 50” are much more
effective than vague direction such as “complete your work to a higher standard”. This
might seem obvious to those of us who have sat down to work out our KPIs, but this really
was Locke’s brainchild. He gave us the foundation for modern goal-setting which had
momentous practical implications for managers. Locke also demonstrated that the best
way to feel motivated is to push yourself to do something that you’re not 100% certain
you can achieve. Tackling challenging goals headfirst allows you to work hard, develop
your skills and reap the rewards in terms of positive feedback and a sense of personal
achievement. Speaking directly to Locke ourselves, he noted that managers can also use
“impossible” goals to promote creativity – employees just need to be assured that there’s
no punishment for not meeting ambitious targets.

Locke and Latham’s five principles of effective goal setting Clarity:

Clarity- A goal must be specific and clear.
Challenge- An easy or tedious goal is demotivating. But keep a realistic balance: don’t
expect anyone on your team to spin straw into gold.
Commitment- Your employees have to understand and buy in to the goal from the outset.
Feedback. Provide regular feedback throughout the whole process. This helps to keep
the goal on track.
Task complexity- Think about realistic timescales, and break down the process into sub-
goals with regular reviews.

C. Taking charge of one’s health

 Stressors and responses
Stressors
 Something that causes a state of strain or tension.
5 Modern Stressors and How to Handle Them
1. Too Much Information
2. Pressure to Succeed in Life
3. Career Pressures 2.0
4. National Concerns
5. Body Image-Related Stress
What is the Stress Response?
Stress is a biological and psychological response experienced on encountering a threat
that we feel we do not have the resources to deal with.
A stressor is the stimulus (or threat) that causes stress, e.g. exam, divorce, death of loved
one, moving house, loss of job.
Sudden and severe stress generally produces:
o Increase in heart rate
o Increase in breathing (lungs dilate)
o Decrease in digestive activity (don’t feel hungry)
o Liver released glucose for energy
Firstly, our body judges a situation and decides whether or not it is stressful. This decision
is made based on sensory input and processing (i.e. the things we see and hear in the
situation) and also on stored memories (i.e. what happened the last time we were in a
similar situation).
If the situation is judged as being stressful, the hypothalamus (at the base of the brain) is
activated.
The hypothalamus in the brain is in charge of the stress response. When a stress
response is triggered, it sends signals to two other structures: the pituitary gland, and
the adrenal medulla.
These short-term responses are produced by The Fight or Flight Response via the
Sympathomedullary Pathway (SAM). Long term stress is regulated by the Hypothalamic
Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) system.

 Sources of Coping and Strength

Coping has been viewed as a stabilizing factor that may assist an individual in
psychosocial adaptation during stressful events. Coping methods often used by students,
to reduce level of stress include, effective time management, social support, positive
reappraisal, and engagement in leisurely pursuits. There is also emotion-based coping
that involves accepting responsibility and self-blame, and this type of coping is more
useful in the first year of the medical school, while in later years the trend shifted towards
confronting, cognitive, and planned problem solving. It has also been found that students
with engagement strategy of coping are able to modify situations, resulting in a more
adaptive outcome, and also have reported fewer symptoms of depression.
“Turn your stress into strength.”
Physical Signs of Stress:
1. Practice good sleep hygiene.
2. Give yourself regular breaks.
3. Regularly practice self-soothing techniques.
4. Exercise regularly.
5. Maintain a healthy diet.
6. Limit your consumption of alcohol and other mood-altering substances (including
sleeping aids).
Behavioral Signs of Stress:
7. Routine, routine, routine…
8. Write things down.
Mental and emotional signs of stress:
1. Be mindful of your attitude and approach to your life.

Stress and Filipinos: The Social and Cultural Dimension of Stress

Stress and the Filipino
Sure, Filipinos are resilient, but this doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t feel stressed.
But that doesn’t mean we Filipinos don’t ever experience stress. We feel it all the time
and we see it producing illnesses, both physical and mental, both fleeting (as in having to
run to the toilet) and serious, life-threatening ones. Because stress affects the body’s
immune system, we can say all ailments are in one way or another stress-related, from
asthma to singaw (canker sores), to cardiovascular ailments and even infectious
diseases.
Not enough being done to understanding stress in its local context, yet stress is mediated
through culture: from the very nature of the stressors, to the ways we respond to the
stress. Understanding this local context might help us develop more culturally
appropriate, and therefore more effective, ways to deal with stress.
STRESSORS ARE not universal. For example, we say “noise” is stressful, but what
exactly is noise?
Culturally, we have different thresholds for these sounds. I have a nephew and a niece
who were born and bred in Canada, and they find the Philippines too “noisy”: the
jeepneys, the arcade games in malls, even the way people talk. Yet they have no
problems tuning into hard rock music on their iPods.
My nephew and niece also find crowds stressful; yet a Filipino sees a crowd and is
delighted, “Uy, Masaya.” Westerners crave privacy; the Filipino is stressed by solitude.
We’re not alone, of course, in finding pleasure in crowds and camaraderie. Culture adapts
to circumstances and we are only one of many countries with large dense populations
that have learned to live with the maddening crowds, complete with the noise. The
Chinese, for example, refer to “merriment” as re Nao, the words for “hot” and “noisy.”

Ultimately, stress management is a matter of helping people to recognize that the world,
which seems so stressful, can also be a source of joy and pleasure, fulfillment and
renewal. The therapies being dangled around are really meant as appetizers, ways of
inducing the depressed the person to garner enough strength and courage to re-engage
not just the world, but life itself.

 Taking care of the Self: The need for Self-care and Compassion

Self-Care & Self-Compassion in Daily Life

Simple Guide for Self-care
There are 5 general ways to care for yourself: physically, mentally, emotionally,
relationally and spiritually. Here are examples for each category and questions to ask to
start your own self-care to-do-list:
o Physically: How do you soften your body?
Exercise, get a massage, take a bath, make a cup of tea, eat a healthy meal or snack,
stretch, dance, go for a walk or bike ride, nap, do the yoga pose legs up a wall….
o Mentally: How do you care for your mind especially when you’re stressed?
Watch a funny movie, read an inspiring book or entertaining magazine, meditate, sit in
the sun, climb a tree, listen to music, color, view art, fly a kite, give yourself a break, take
things off your to-do list, watch the clouds or stars, listen to a guided meditation…
o Emotionally-How do you soothe and comfort yourself?
Get a hug, cuddle your fur baby, read poetry or write a poem, have a good cry (watching
an emotional movie helps), talk to a good friend, journal, garden, play, cook…
o Relationally: How do you connect with others in a way that makes you happy?
Hang out with friends, play a game, give someone you love a call, edit your social media
feed to get negative people out of your life…

o Spiritually: What do you do to care for your soul?

Read, meditate, pray, get out in nature, go to church, practice yoga, take a media fast &
unplug (i.e. turn off your cell phone) …

Self-care isn’t selfish. Self-care is an act of self-love. It’s a powerful way to strengthen
yourself and connect with your inner core so you’re prepared to make the most of your
life when it’s wonderful and when it’s messy.
So be a little selfish. Do at least one thing today just because it
makes YOU happy.