What are Resources and why are they so important?
Resources are what nourish you, what serves you, what helps relieve stress, puts a smile on your face and makes life worth living. Some resources will support you completely and have no side effects and others will cause more problems then the good you feel in the moment. Over time, weeding out the unsupportive resources and replacing them with nourishing ones will help to create more and more well-being.
In our ever increasingly fast-paced world and lifestyles, our nervous system, organs and general sense of well-being are being overwhelmed, plowed over, shut down, numbed and downright burnt out. When we plow ahead, put our nose to the grindstone over and over again without supporting ourselves, this is when pain, anxiety, accidents, sleeplessness, disease and disharmony start showing up in our experience.
Resources are the foundation to maintaining health, balance and well-being. They give our internal world, space, rest and rejuvenation. Everyone has their own unique combination of resources that support them in the world and can take some exploration to find.
Taking the time to write down your resources when you are in a calm and happy mood is the key; because the irony is when we need our resources the most is when we have the least access to them. Having a list, a hard copy to pull out on those days when life is a big ball of stress, gives us the empowerment to take action that is supportive and rejuvenating.
How do you figure out what is your list? Start with the easy ones.
What do you do without thinking about it to relieve stress, take a load off, blow off some steam, relax?
My no brainer ones, that I always do without necessarily knowing they are serving me in a resourceful way:
Taking a deep breath
Going for a walk or run
Turning on my favorite music really loud and dancing and singing along
Drinking a cup a tea
Getting a massage/bodywork
Journaling
Smoking a cigarette (before I quit)
Next think about those things you wish you had more time for, what you look forward to doing on the weekends/days off, those things that add color and fun to your life and bring peace of mind.
Some of mine are:
Going for a hike
Yoga
Going to the beach
Taking a trip to somewhere new
Baking cookies
Taking soothing baths
Soaking in hot springs
Having a fresh berry smoothie
Eating dark chocolate
Watching movies
Drinking a beer
Then take a moment and feel into the state of being that you feel when you take the time to do these activities.
How does your internal world feel? What are the feeling tones, the colors and textures of your body and mind?
What are some internal resources that cultivate this sense of well-being?
Some of mine are:
Meditating
Spending quiet and slow time in nature
Deep Breathes
Journeying to my sacred space
Feeling my line of light
Questioning thoughts that worry me and shifting beliefs that no longer serve
Look back through the list and notice which ones on the list may cause less well-being than others. Some of my resources that served me for a time but ultimately cause more stress were smoking, drinking more than two drinks, and watching lots of movies in a row. These created stress in my body after the fact and then created the need to recover.
What is most important with this is to give yourself time and space to ease them out of your routine. Make a list of how they are serving you specifically. And create a list of resources that will serve you in the same manner that won’t require more downtime or recovery.
For instance, cigarettes were stress relievers for me, they helped me ground, take a moment to “breathe”, and feel more comfortable in social situations. I found that meditating could serve me in the same way and transitioned from smoking to meditating.
Ultimately we are working towards creating this internal state of being that is stress free and at ease in all situations. Identifying external resources will lead you down this path to more and more happiness and well-being and create more access to the internal, inherent resources we always have access to at any moment in time.
Now that you are more conscious of your resources, it is up to you to start incorporating them into your daily lives as much as possible. Start by committing to incorporating at least one resource into your life a day. Or if you already do one a day, make room for more time or more resources to be part of your routine.
I have found that my access to health, peace of mind and internal softness has grown leaps and bounds since I started consciously adding resources into my daily life.