5 Self-Care Essentials For Caregivers

When we care for ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, we naturally find a sense of peace and meaning for our lives. In this Podcast, I share the self-care protocol that has become an essential part of my life for total wellness.

(Originally Released October 11, 2018)

Transcript

Hi friends,

This is Gladys Ellen and welcome to Heavenly Hugs,

A podcast guided by angels.

It is here I will share my personal angel stories and insight so that you too can be uplifted and blessed by these beautiful beings of light.

Hi friends and fellow earth angels,

It's Gladys and welcome back to my podcast.

And today I want to share with you my five self-care essentials for caregivers.

And under that umbrella of caregivers,

I suggest it is people who are healers,

Earth angels,

Light workers,

Empaths.

And chances are,

If you're listening to this podcast,

You're in that space.

So these caregivers,

The caregivers that have come to this planet,

We have a special job and a special mission.

We are of service to people.

Our greatest joy is to give and help others and be part of inspiring and uplifting others.

And we're at the end of 2018.

If you're listening,

We're mid-October now,

We're officially the last quarter of the year.

And this year has been a lot of deep inner work for people,

A lot of going within and sorting out what we like,

What we don't like,

What works for us,

But doesn't work for us.

And really being in this self space,

Who am I without all these people,

Places,

Things and ideas.

And I want to share with you some of the five things that I find absolutely necessary for me to be able to do the work that I do on a regular basis.

I've often said,

People who are working in the caregiver fields,

Maybe you're a social worker,

Maybe you're a nurse,

Maybe you're a teacher,

Maybe you're a therapist or a body worker,

A healer,

Maybe you do energy work.

And there are so many other caregivers out there that are being of assistance to others in serving.

And so I say so often that we cannot be on this journey unless we are practicing really great self care.

And self care goes beyond manicures and pedicures and massages,

Although those are excellent.

There are also deeper levels of self care that give us the energy to continue to serve.

And the primary basis of that is life homework of learning how to receive.

So I'm going to go into the five things that have really worked for me.

Now I've been on this journey for quite some time.

I've been working in this field as a medium,

As a spiritual advisor,

An intuitive life coach,

A teacher,

A spiritual teacher.

I've been in this space working with clients for 11 years.

And so there are a lot of experiences I've had that I wish I could change and I wish I knew earlier.

And I had a client tell me the other day that he wished there was a book of life.

He wished what he knows now,

We wish he knew then.

And I found that so profound because yes,

I think so many of us are in this space of had I known,

I would have.

And I feel like my job as a spiritual teacher is to share what I've learned to lessen the impact and speed up your recovery process.

So one of the first things that I found absolutely valuable for me is holistic therapy.

I last year saw a therapist every week for almost the entire year.

And it was interesting,

A while back I was speaking with another holistic practitioner who was fairly new to the field.

And I happened to be talking to her and mentioned my therapist.

And she stopped me and she said,

Gladys,

She's like,

You go to therapy?

And I was like,

Of course,

Absolutely.

And it really kind of opened up a lot for her.

I think as spiritual teachers and holistic healers,

I feel like there's this notion that we have to heal ourselves,

Which puts more pressure on ourselves when we don't have the answers and we're trying to figure things out.

And so one of the essentials that I find is to have a really great therapist.

Now I have to say when every week,

Almost every week for an entire year,

But I'm not in that space now.

I did a lot of deep inner work with my mental and emotional health.

So I'm not saying you need to go every single week for your life.

If you have a really great therapist,

Then they will teach you the skills to be able to work through experiences and the challenges that are coming up in your life.

Now as caregivers,

Most often we are born into families and we get into relationships that are not so healthy.

I think it's part of why we've come here as caregivers is to learn how to navigate in these difficult and dense situations.

This year alone,

There's a lot of people breaking away from old soul groups,

Old beliefs,

Old ways of doing things.

And we're going into that space of needing healing through those experiences.

A lot of abuse,

Let's say,

Mental,

Emotional abuse.

We've gotten into relationships where people have.

.

.

How do I say it?

We have lowered our self-esteem because we've given everything to them.

Getting into partnerships with people who could be manipulators.

Maybe it's a boss,

Maybe it's an ex,

Or maybe you're in a relationship that's like that.

Maybe it's a parent,

Maybe it's your child.

And learning how to navigate being triggered in those spaces and how to move towards surrounding yourself with healthier people.

Oprah and Tony Robbins and Joel Osteen and Steve Harvey and so many talented people out there,

One of the essentials they say is you must surround yourself with good people,

But you also must surround yourself with good thoughts as well.

And if you've been conditioned in these old groups and old paradigms to mentally think and emotionally think down in yourself and not know how to process these experiences,

What happens is anger builds up inside and frustration.

So often I find with caregivers,

We have the frustration and the anger and the tension in between the shoulder blades.

So this is where you carry anger and resentment.

In between the shoulder blades,

If you're a female on the bra strap line,

And the organs that are affected are your liver,

Your gallbladder,

And your spleen.

So we'll talk more about that when we get into body work,

But all those emotions build up,

But they don't just disappear.

They stay in the cellular memory of your body.

And we're going to have experiences in life.

It's just part of what we've come here to learn.

So if you can get with a great holistic mental health professional,

Somebody that you can go to that can help you work through those challenges and those difficulties from your past and teach you how to go within.

So the therapist I worked with,

She helped me connect with the parts that were inside of me,

Inner child work,

The adolescent,

The angry part of me,

The frustrated part of me,

The scared part of me.

So when I have these experiences that come up in my life,

Because they will,

Because that is life,

I know how to go within and check in with what I need mentally and emotionally.

And I have to say,

This last year,

My life has changed dramatically because of it.

She also did yoga poses and breathing exercises.

So she incorporated a multitude of healing modalities in her sessions.

And one of the beautiful things that I found was she taught me how to go from my mind to my heart.

Now,

I didn't even realize how much I was in that mental space,

Overthinking,

Analyzing,

Exhausted,

Headaches,

Challenged.

And so I have to say,

For the first few months I was in her office,

I just cried all the time.

I felt like I was releasing all this stuff.

And then also of these judgments came up and these expectations on myself.

And so the thing is with holistic therapies is you got to stick with it.

You know,

You got all these years of this purging to do.

And I found it was one of the greatest things that I could do for myself and my mental and emotional state.

So I feel solid.

I feel strong in making decisions based on what I need and not what everybody else wants.

So again,

If you're a caregiver,

I encourage you to seek out a professional.

Archangel Zadkiel,

Archangel Zadkiel,

He's the angel of mercy.

He's the great healer of the mind.

He encourages you to return to God.

So if you're struggling with who will work for you,

If you're struggling with how to know if you're with a good therapist,

You know,

Like I said,

The person is helping you go in and do the deep inner work.

So it wasn't like I went into therapy and just complained about what was going on in my life.

She gave me tools on how to navigate through those experiences,

Which was a powerful.

So before I even went,

I called on Archangel Zadkiel and God and all my team of spirit guides and I asked them to just guide me to the right person.

And the person that I went to,

I had two other friends that were already going to her.

So I went into that space and like I said,

I just kept showing up.

I didn't intend to go for as long as I did.

I just kept showing up.

I just knew I needed it.

And I have to say sometimes I left and I was like,

I'm never going back.

And then other times,

You know,

As I,

As I sat with it,

I'm like,

Yeah,

I know I needed that.

Yep.

That's what I needed to hear.

So I'm not going to say it's going to be easy peasy,

But I can tell you,

You can do this.

You can show up for yourself.

It's not like we were told this when we were children.

It's not like teachers said,

You need a great mental health professional to help you deal with life.

But I'm telling you,

You need some type of professional who is in good space themselves,

Who's doing their own inner work,

Who's reading and learning and exploring different modalities and things that are out there to help with mental and physical,

Mental and emotional health.

So again,

You can call on Archangel Zadkiel for assistance.

Because I've done my research,

They say he's like a deep blue indigo color.

So you can wear that color,

Surround yourself in that color,

Become a magnet for that color.

But again,

You can call on the divine for assistance to lead you to the right person.

And you sometimes part of the process is saying this is for me or it's not for me.

You know,

You may need to go visit a few people before you decide that you resonate.

I went to another female,

But you might resonate with a male,

A gentle male,

A male that's going to assist you.

But like I said,

If you have struggle,

Challenges with the masculine energy,

Go to somebody who you feel like you can resonate with who you can trust who you can open up to.

Again,

You're getting into deep personal experiences.

So you need to feel this for yourself.

So don't feel like you just have to follow what somebody tells you.

You know,

Like I said,

I always checked in with myself and what felt right and what didn't.

And I knew,

I knew even knew when it was,

I even knew when I didn't have to keep going so often.

And I knew when the time I could space it out and I know when I need to go again.

So these are the things with again,

Not attaching to one person,

But allow yourself to go with the flow and be in that space.

Just show up and let it be what it is without expectations.

That's what worked for me.

So again,

Mentally emotional health and also good therapy are books.

I found some really great books that I enjoyed.

I mentioned in some other podcasts about The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.

I read that book and really enjoyed the mentally emotional help that I got from that book.

Again,

Zadkiel can help you.

He's also the angel of teaching and learning.

So he can bring in the books and the articles and the stories into your life that can help you,

That can help teach you.

And it will also give you an opportunity to then share that with others.

So you're learning and then you're going to be able to teach it afterwards because this is what we do as caregivers.

So open up to not just a single person for therapy,

But books.

Knowledge and Wisdom,

High Performing Habits by Brendan Bouchard,

Excellent book for people who are out there in business and learning how to take care of yourself and being in that space.

What else?

I'm reading right now Games People Play,

The basic handbook of transactional analysis.

I know it sounds crazy,

But it's by Eric Byrne.

This book came out in the 1960s and it just teaches you about the games that people are playing,

And how to pull the eject button,

How to see the game and really pull away from it.

Now that book isn't a book that I would have been ready for even last year,

But I came across my path and I started reading it and I find it very interesting.

There's another book that was endorsed by Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra.

It's called Nonviolent Communication and I'm at a loss right now for the author,

But it's Nonviolent Communication.

It was another book that came out in the 60s,

I believe,

And it's been updated over time and it is phenomenal.

It teaches you how to communicate from your needs and your wants.

So like I said,

If you're not in the space to go talk to somebody right now,

Ask the universe to send you books to help you,

To assist you with that mentally and emotional health.

The second thing that I find crucial for my wellness and feeling good is body work.

So I've been going to a physical therapist for,

Well,

I started in January going to physical therapy and I went to the traditional physical therapy where you do the exercises for my lower back issues and it really,

It helped,

But it wasn't really getting to the root of the problem.

So of course,

As the universe would have it and the divine would guide me,

I was guided to a physical therapist who specializes in myofascial release.

I was in Sedona,

Arizona and it was a spa vacation and I ended up going to a lady who does massage and I was explaining to her like my challenges and my issues and she asked me if I'd ever experienced myofascial work and of course I hadn't.

So she did this body work on me and it was incredible.

I left there a new person.

I felt healed.

I felt relaxed.

I felt incredible and she suggested that I find a good myofascial release practitioner in my area who specializes in the,

I believe it's John F.

Barnes technique.

So I came home.

I found a physical therapist,

A physical therapist who focuses on myofascial release.

Now I have to say it is a commitment.

It is an investment in yourself and there were times where I was like,

I'm spending all this money.

Is it worth it?

But I also had to remember there were years,

Years of stuff that I had abused my body over exercising,

Not eating right,

Not listening to my body when there's pain.

So you know,

I've stuck with this physical therapy and it has been amazing.

I have to say for the first time I feel so good.

I feel so relaxed.

I don't have that deep ache and that deep pain in my body anymore and the myofascial work isn't just physical therapy.

It also works with mental and emotional therapy and releasing as well.

Remember your emotions and experiences are stored in your body.

So when they're manipulating this fascia in your body,

It's also releasing emotions.

There were times when I cried,

There was times when I would get angry and really again,

A good myofascial release person will teach you how to be in your body.

So in the whole,

The treatment that I'm having,

My mind is in my body.

I'm paying attention to how I'm feeling,

I'm breathing through,

I'm relaxing.

So these physical therapy appointments have given me really great time with myself in my body.

So when I'm out of alignment friends,

I can feel it.

I know when I need to go get a chiropractic adjustment.

I know when I need to get in there for the myofascial release,

The physical therapy.

Currently I'm going every other week.

I was going every week for a while and I was going every week for a chiropractic adjustment,

But now my body is holding the adjustments.

I'm in alignment for a lot longer.

So I'm going to work my way through it.

But again,

I'm with a professional who allows me to listen to my body and navigate through it,

Which is incredible.

So physical therapy is great body work,

Energy therapy,

Reiki,

Integrated energy therapy.

There's so many modalities out there for caregivers,

Healers,

Earth angels,

Light workers,

Empathic people.

Body work is really,

Really great for us.

Sometimes the physical manipulation is a lot.

And so to be able to go in and being able to relax and get your energy and your chi filled up,

It's like when clients come in and see me,

I see their cells as like dried raisins.

And then when they leave,

I feel the cells in their body are like fat,

Juicy grapes.

So energy therapy is powerful for your physical body.

And then also rest.

Rest is really important for your body.

And I just don't mean sleeping all the time.

I mean going out for a walk or just taking some deep breaths,

Going out in nature and sitting by the ocean.

I was lucky enough to be able to go yesterday.

I was down in Narragansett,

And I was able to stop for an hour and put my feet in the ocean.

It was a beautiful day,

Get some sunshine,

And I felt filled up.

I felt good.

I felt relaxed.

So again,

We do require more downtime.

Sometimes that is sleep,

But not always.

Sometimes it's going out and getting some fresh air and being in nature,

Putting your hands on the trees,

Or maybe it's gardening and putting your hands in the dirt on the plants.

For me,

I'm an ocean girl.

I'm an ocean and moon and water goddess.

So going out and being there,

I feel like home.

So again,

Listen to your body and what's helping you fill up.

It's interesting though.

Last night I came home and I was filled up.

I was outside and I got that fresh air and the salt,

Water in my skin.

And last night I was supposed to record this podcast and I'm sitting there and I'm just like,

God,

I just don't have it in me.

I don't feel good.

And so I started to put pressure on myself.

You got to get up and do it.

I didn't know what I wanted to talk about.

And so I just said,

You know what?

I'm going to love myself.

I'm going to take a step away.

I went to bed early.

I had a physical therapy appointment this morning.

I felt good when I left and on the way home I came up with the idea of these five essentials,

The five self-care essentials.

So you got to listen to your body.

You know,

I love being on a schedule,

But I also have to listen to myself when the schedule isn't working for me in real life.

So I made that adjustment.

And like I said,

I have so much to talk about now because I feel filled up.

I feel good.

I feel strong.

And you always want to be of service when you're in that space.

Archangel Raphael is really great for helping you to assist with body work.

He's the angel of healing.

So you can call on him,

Ask him for help with healing of your body,

To bring in the people in your life that can help.

The third essential,

Essential,

Essential that I find keeps me in good space is meditation.

Now,

So many people talk about meditation.

I can't meditate.

My mind's wandering all the time and I can't clear my mind and get the thoughts to relax.

Relax.

Good.

That's a good thing.

You are aware that your mind is all over the place.

When you give yourself downtime to sit with what thoughts are on your mind,

You get more clear about what is clogging up your mental thoughts.

What is clogging up your mind because again,

Most people are running around being of service to others all day and you don't really give yourself a chance to think about how your body's feeling,

What thoughts and fears are on your mind.

So the best thing that I suggest with starting a meditation practice,

I am on this app called Insight Timer and I'm a teacher on there and I upload these podcasts to it.

But it's also a great app because there's a timer on there and for me,

I've set a few different timers.

I have a timer set for five minutes,

25 minutes and 45 minutes.

I have to say I don't use the 45 minute one as often.

I do use the five minute one often and also the five minutes,

15,

20,

Oh God,

Five minutes.

I think it's five minutes,

15 and 30 minutes.

I think that's what I have.

I'm sorry.

But I use the five minutes often and the 15 minutes and the beautiful thing about those things is I set the timer to some om chanting in the background and it's set for a bell to go off at four minutes.

So I know that I have one minute left to really focus on my breath or a goal or an emotion that I want to feel in that last minute because again,

Your mind can wander.

Same thing for the 15 minutes.

You know,

I'll do it after 10 minutes and I know I still got like five minutes left,

So I'm preparing myself in the meditation space to give myself cues so I can completely relax so a bell just doesn't go off right at the end.

So it's a great app to use for meditation.

If you're new to meditation,

I suggest using that app or using a timer on your phone and setting it for five minutes and focusing on your breath for that five minutes.

Maybe you focus on the rise and fall of your chest and stomach with each breath.

Maybe you feel your lungs expanding and contracting.

Notice the air as it moves in and out of your nose or mouth.

Feel the breath in your body and stay with that space.

Five minutes.

You'll be amazed at how fast five minutes goes.

And being able to do that for a month.

You know,

You're going to want to go longer and the thing is I always suggest stick to the five minutes because everybody has five minutes.

The thing is sometimes we think we've got to go longer.

I can go longer.

I can go longer.

And then what happens is you don't have that time because you've gone longer and then you just kind of nix the whole thing.

So stick with five minutes of focusing on your breath work.

And then after that month,

Maybe it's five minutes and focusing on a vision for yourself,

A goal,

Something that you want to achieve.

See yourself in that space.

Maybe you focus on five minutes of gratitude,

Things that you're grateful for or even joyfuls,

Things that bring you joy.

But to start,

I feel like breath work is a really great space because it's bringing you into the present moment.

It's teaching you how to strengthen the present moment for that five minutes and also to bringing your awareness to your physical body.

It's bringing your mind and your body into alignment.

And then another aspect of meditation that I like is doing gratefuls and joyfuls at night,

Writing down 10 gratefuls or 10 things that bring you joy or maybe a mix of gratefuls and joyfuls,

Writing down 10 things.

So when you slump or you're in that space of feeling not so great,

You can go to that gratitude journal and you can look at all the things that you're grateful for.

That is a natural booster.

That isn't something that will naturally kick you into a good space.

Archangel Shamuel,

He is the angel of peace.

If you struggle with meditation and,

And what it even is and how it's even working for you,

Call on Archangel Shamuel.

He's also the angel of lost things.

So sometimes when we're separating from people,

Places,

Things and ideas that are in old space and old paradigms,

We can feel lonely or a little lost.

Archangel Shamuel is phenomenal for helping us reconnect with,

With the essence of ourselves,

Finding that inner peace within.

And I have to say,

Regardless of what's going on around me,

The difficulties,

The challenges,

The hiccups and the bumps,

For the most part,

Because of the therapy,

The body work and the meditation,

I feel like I'm in good space.

I'm more equipped to handle it.

And again,

It lessens the impact and speeds up the recovery process.

Another thing that I enjoy with meditation is binaural beats sound therapy.

So when,

Um,

You know,

I got tension in my neck or shoulders,

You know,

I'll go to YouTube and I'll put like by binaural beats.

So it's B I N U R A L B E A T S binaural beats.

It's sound therapy.

And I will listen to binaural beats for neck pain or inflammation.

They have binaural beats for,

For headaches,

Uh,

Body pain.

They also have binaural beats for love and peace.

Um,

And I have to say,

I just put the earbuds in my ear at night,

At night,

And I just kind of lay there and I just listen.

Sometimes when I'm listening to the one for back pain or something,

I'm reading a book and I'll tell you,

It really does help.

Um,

You're,

You're getting into your body and you're teaching your brain to send out those signals to your body to relieve the pain and work with the nerves.

So it's something to research.

Again,

These things may not be for everybody.

That's why when I say meditation,

There's a lot,

Lots of different things you can do with,

With meditations.

Um,

Sound healings with gongs and singing bowls.

Those are also excellent for,

For caregivers and healers to get out there and use.

Um,

There are all different types of classes now out there.

So maybe it's something you try.

There's drumming,

There's like I said,

Gongs,

There's singing bowls,

There's chanting.

These are all excellent ways to fill up and get into that meditative space.

And I encourage you to just try all these different things.

See what works for you.

Take in what resonates and dump the rest.

Um,

The fourth essential to feeling good,

Um,

For self care is nutrition.

Again,

Healthy foods that will fuel your body.

Everybody's different.

So I feel better with vegetables,

Um,

Plant proteins,

Fruits.

Um,

I stopped eating beef,

Pork,

Poultry,

Chicken and Turkey.

I stopped eating that in 2013 and because of that,

It's giving me a lot of alternatives,

Different ways of eating,

Uh,

Different ways of eating.

And again,

I was a sugar addict and I had to really learn how to fuel my body and work with the things that triggered me to eat the sweets.

So I've made a lot of adjustments.

Um,

I do also suggest indulging in moderation.

So I love sweets,

But I have to say I buy good quality,

Um,

Sweets and snacks.

So I'll buy really good dark chocolate or I bought these delicious caramels from Trader Joe's and I'll tell you friends because it's a great quality,

Um,

Sweet snack.

I don't eat a whole box of it.

I may have one or two and that's enough.

So indulge,

I encourage you to indulge in moderation.

You know,

Sometimes I'll love to have some ice cream,

But I don't buy it and bring it home.

Maybe I'll have a Haagen-Dazs.

Maybe I'll go if when if Haagen-Dazs on sale,

I'll buy like a little pint.

I love plain vanilla bean.

That is one of my favorites.

And every night I'll enjoy like a couple spoonfuls until it's gone.

But I have to say,

I don't go out and buy another one.

Um,

I kind of wean myself off of it for a little while,

But I'm not gonna suffer.

I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

I indulge a little bit and that is okay.

That's part of enjoying life.

They say that the planet earth is the only planet with chocolate.

So I joke all the time that that's why I came to this planet for chocolate,

But I would over indulge and I have to say it's kind of hard now.

Halloween is upon us and there's all these candies out there and the amazing thing is because of the therapy,

Because of the body work,

Because of the meditation,

Because of the nutrition,

I can walk through those aisles and not feel like I have to grab a bag of something.

I'm in that space where I don't have to run out and get those hundred grand or those Hershey's or those Skittles or those starbursts.

As much as I love them,

It's just not something that my body needs or wants anymore.

So as you're following these protocols,

As you're doing these things,

You're naturally going to separate from those unhealthy things and you'll just find other ways.

I do eat fish.

I don't eat fish often,

But I do.

I really enjoy scallops and salmon and tuna,

But again,

Because of the mercury levels,

You know,

I just kind of have to eat it in moderation.

I love a lobster.

Every year for my birthday,

I make sure I get a lobster.

This year I had a lobster roll.

I got a couple of them this summer,

But again,

It's something that I do to treat myself.

So again,

Everything in moderation.

Also too with nutrition,

Drinking your water,

Flushing out the toxins as you're going to physical therapy or working with your mental health,

You're doing the meditation.

I can't tell you how crucial getting your water in.

They say drinking half your body weight in ounces of water a day is going to help you.

I feel like I can focus better.

I do struggle with attention,

ADD,

Attention and being able to stay focused.

I find when I'm drinking my water and eating healthy,

I feel good and I can spend more time focusing on the things that I need to get done.

I think it's a natural trait for caregivers to struggle with like focus and maybe learning disabilities.

I am semi dyslexic and I transpose numbers all the time and I really got to like dot my I's and cross my T's and it's something that I know about myself.

But again,

I'm a powerful creator because of it.

I love business.

I love to be able to create.

I'm a content creator and I feel like because of that I can be who I am.

So again,

It's a beautiful thing.

You just got to find your niche and what works for you,

What drives your passion and I think that's part of it.

So drinking your water can help you flush out those toxins and keep a clear focus.

So I love,

I buy these containers,

These water containers.

The company is Corksicle and I have a 24 ounce one and I just know that I have to drink definitely three of those into my fourth one.

I have to drink at least three and maybe half of a fourth one to get my water in for the day.

So I just carry it around with me.

It's a beautiful turquoise color.

I love it.

I love to carry it around.

I love to drink out of it.

It feels good.

So get something that you enjoy that will encourage you to drink.

A lot of men,

I know they carry around a gallon of water with them.

I follow these motivational speakers,

Rachel and Dave Hollis.

They're on Instagram and Dave talks about how he tries to drink his gallon of water by three o'clock because he wants to sleep and he doesn't want to be up going to the bathroom all night.

So I have my coffee and then I start drinking my water.

I really enjoy soda water.

I have one of those soda streams.

So it's one of the things I've done a lot of research on it and for me,

My body feels good.

I don't have any adverse effects.

I don't have any struggles with gas or anything with soda water and it encourages me to drink more water.

I'll put some lemon in it or I'll put some lime in it.

I love the Jutera essential oils.

So I'll use the wild orange.

I'll put a couple drops of that in my water.

I love the corksicle containers because they are metal and they're great stainless steel.

So they're really great if you're using essential oils.

So again,

These are just things that can help you be the best version of yourself.

And then finally,

I know this is kind of long today,

But finally the last essential for caregivers and self care is love and support.

We need to be loved.

We need to love ourselves and we need to be surrounding ourselves with loving,

Gentle people.

I ask God to send me beautiful,

Loving people in my life and in this space there are people admittedly that are coming and going in and out of my life and it's a hard thing because again you want to be loved.

You want to be surrounded by love.

I love love.

I love to be in love.

I love to be surrounded by people who are in love.

I just love it.

I'm a hopeless romantic,

But I have to say I really will not be around people who are toxic and negative and difficult.

It's something that I know I need gentle,

Loving people in my life for me to be able to do what I do.

And that also goes with me being gentle and loving for myself.

You know,

My therapist tell me once that I was being a shit to myself and it really struck me hard,

But she was absolutely right.

I was being a shit to myself,

Pardon my language,

But I was really putting a lot of judgments on myself,

Pushing myself,

Being hard on myself.

And again,

This last year I've been really learning to be gentle and go easy,

To not beat myself up,

To just love myself.

When I notice that I'm getting hard on myself,

I just breathe and relax through it.

I'm telling you that book Untethered Soul will help you all with all this.

The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.

It is all the things.

It will help you.

And it is the be all end all for me that I found is the map on how to navigate life.

And again,

You have to be ready for it.

If it's something that you've heard over and over again,

Get it in your house,

Get it on your bookshelf,

Get it on your bed so you're seeing it.

I actually had an awesome friend mail me a copy.

She's like,

You got to read this.

It took me about a month before I picked it up and I couldn't stop reading it once I did.

So love and support,

Surround yourself with supported people.

And so for me in business,

Support is also my bookkeeper,

Also my graphic designer and web developer,

Also the people that I work with that I train out of their centers and go to their spaces and work out of and teach classes.

They're part of my support and my network.

And it's really important for me to be around people who are in good space doing their own inner work.

So Archangel Raphael can help you with the nutrition.

He can help you with the love and support.

Archangel Shamuel again is another angel that can help you bring love into your life.

So you know,

If you've done a lot of your inner work and you're ready for love,

If you're ready for romance,

There's so many twin flames out there.

If you're ready for your twin flame and you're ready to do the work,

You know,

I say so often,

You know,

I can do all the inner work for myself,

But it's when you get into that committed,

Deep,

Passionate,

Romantic,

Best friend relationship that you grow and expand even more.

So choose,

Choose wisely,

Choose the person who's in it to win it to choose the person who's doing their own inner work,

Who,

Who believes in what you do believe in,

Who is passionate with you.

Now you may not all be in the same space,

But where you can co-create together,

Where you can share that energy and grow and expand.

This is the love.

This is the support.

And again,

Calling on the universe,

Asking God to bring those people,

Places,

Things and ideas into your life.

And then again,

Having patience with the process.

These things just don't happen overnight.

So when you're starting therapy or body work or meditation,

Or you're making changes to your diet and nutrition and you're calling in loving,

Supporting people,

Know that it's a commitment and it's going to take time.

It could take one year,

Two years,

Three years.

You don't know what the work is,

Is,

But commit to yourself.

And again,

People,

Places,

Things and ideas will come and go in and out of your life,

But you will always have yourself.

And so bringing your energy back to yourself,

Empowering,

Uplifting,

Inspiring yourself is so powerful.

Like I said,

I am a girl.

I love to surround myself with nurturing,

Pretty,

Gentle,

Soothing,

Calm things.

Like I said,

I love my turquoise,

Corksicle water.

I love the clothes that I wear.

Now again,

I'm not going out and spending tons of money,

But when I go out,

I choose things that really make me feel good.

I have podcasts and playlists that I listen to that help inspire me and uplift me.

So surround yourself with these tools,

Surround yourself with these people,

Places,

Things and ideas for your own self care.

Remember nobody,

Nobody is going to take care of you better than you can take care of yourself.

And many of us have been conditioned to put our needs aside to take care of others.

But I'm saying in this last quarter,

We can find balance with it.

We can find balance with the giving and receiving.

And I promise you,

As you find balance with giving and receiving,

This is where true abundance and prosperity and health and wealth come from,

Comes from doing the inner work,

Opening up and expanding that energy to loving supportive people around you,

Being with really great friends,

Really great lovers,

Really great professionals,

Holistic professionals that can really inspire you and uplift you.

So again,

Five self care essentials that I find absolutely necessary in my life.

A good holistic therapist,

Bodywork,

Meditation,

Nutrition,

Love and support.

Those are the five.

So I hope this has encouraged you and inspired you.

You can start now.

We're in the last quarter.

We're going into 2019.

I'm going to talk about what 2019 is bringing in other podcasts.

But we can start now and making these minor adjustments,

Minor adjustments,

Make huge changes in the long run.

So pick one of these five things.

Pick one of the five things to start with.

Don't feel like you got to do it all at once.

Because again,

This is what we do all or nothing and we burn ourselves out.

Pick one of those things and start there and then start asking the universe to bring in support and help help you with the right people that can help you in your life now.

So I'm going to conclude this podcast.

It was it was very long,

But I hope you found it helpful.

And I am again in my office offering private sessions.

If I can be of service to you.

I do a lot of intuitive coaching,

Spiritual guidance,

Life purpose work connecting you with your loved ones.

This is all stuff that will help with deep inner work.

If you're looking for spiritual support,

You can book an appointment online anytime at GladysEllen.

Com.

And again,

Friends,

I thank you for listening and I send you love with heavenly hugs.

Bye for now.

You've been listening to Heavenly Hugs with Gladys Ellen.

Gladys invites you to join her on Facebook and Instagram where she continues to teach and inspire.

If this podcast was helpful,

You would like to experience more Gladys offers private sessions at her office as well as over the phone and via Skype.

Connect with loved ones in the afterlife.

Explore past lives with past life regression therapy or receive clarity about your life purpose,

Love,

Relationships,

Prosperity and more with spiritual intuitive sessions.

Book your appointment online anytime at GladysEllen.

Com.

Reviews

Sooo helpful thank you Gladys 💜 x

This was wonderful. Thank you so much for the tips and reassurance 🙏🏾