Self-Care

I admittedly took a "break" from active meditation. It certainly was not due to time shortage! I had the longest break in recent memory to spend at home in California where I was able to reconnect with friends and family.

It was a welcome juxtaposition to where I was emotionally/etc. the previous year and I reflected on how fortunate I've been to be able to actualize personal goals.

As a grad student I have had time to think and reassess what I want from myself on a micro and macro level. In and out of meditation I often consider the words, "Don't just do something, sit there!"

The "glorification of busyness" certainly had (has) power over me and I was reminded of that during nearly 6 weeks of unscheduled free time. I was initially/periodically restless but engaged with goals I found to be meaningful uses of time. As the weeks rolled by I was amused by the exponential projects I suddenly did not have time to complete!

Recently I watched the video Humans Need Not Apply. At the conclusion of the video, my boyfriend expressed optimism at the prospect of more accessible free time and enough food to sustain humanity. I was disturbed on multiple fronts, mostly on a social level. In the best case scenario, people will have more down time and I am not sure we will all make good choices. Unstructured time is the number one thing you try to avoid as a teacher in a classroom! Yes, people find ways to amuse themselves, just not always in a positive way. If you are like me, you are also frightened by the thought of a widened class gap, which is also disastrous.

What great job security in a way-assuming you are a leader in a soulful profession like ministry, exercise instructor, artist...

With more free time, will people redirect themselves toward self-improvement? Or will we be unable to look at ourselves with honesty and prioritize the mending of shortcomings as our highest priority?

Anne Sullivan (teacher to Hellen Keller) was the Valedictorian when she graduated from the Perkin's School. She has the following to say about "self-care"

"We can educate ourselves; we can, by thought and perseverance, develop all the powers and capacities entrusted to us, and build for ourselves true and noble characters. Because we can, we must. It is a duty we owe to ourselves, to our country and to God.

All the wondrous physical, intellectual and moral endowments, with which man is blessed, will, by inevitable law, become useless, unless he uses and improves them. The muscles must be used, or they become unserviceable. The memory, understanding and judgment must be used, or they become feeble and inactive. If a love for truth and beauty and goodness is not cultivated, the mind loses the strength which comes from truth, the refinement which comes from beauty, and the happiness which comes from goodness.

Self-culture is a benefit, not only to the individual, but also to mankind. Every man who improves himself is aiding the progress of society, and every one who stands still, holds it back. The advancement of society always has its commencement in the individual soul. It is by battling with the circumstances, temptations and failures of the world, that the individual reaches his highest possibilities.

The search for knowledge, begun in school, must be continued through life in order to give symmetrical self-culture.

For the abundant opportunities which have been afforded to us for broad self-improvement we are deeply grateful."