A warm and fuzzy perspective...

Are you the kind of person who is kind and gentle with puppies and kittens? If you are not, and would find it easy to be harsh and cruel to these adorable little furballs, read no further, because the ideas shared here will not resonate for you...

I want to talk about self-care today, and what it means to be gentle with ourselves...as well as with others. Sometimes we need visual aids in order to really "get it"...and I think the image of these sweet and vulnerable babies can help...

Not too long ago, I wrote a blog about being a "high maintenance" person, and what it means to take care of ourselves. While the idea may seem a selfish one, I continue to believe that good self-care inevitably leads us toward better relationships with other people (and animals), and that a failure to take good care of ourselves also has an inevitable ending...a bad one.

Some of us grew up in nurturing homes and with loving and encouraging families. Others of us grew up in broken homes, and perhaps even in abusive environments. Either way, we have this one thing in common: we grew up with imperfect people caring for us, and sometimes learned bad habits in the area of emotional health and well-being.

Be gentle with yourself...may seem like a trite phrase, but it is an integral part of healthy self-care. If you think about puppies and kittens, and use your imagination, you can begin to form a picture in your mind of what such gentleness might look like.

Imagine holding a puppy or a kitten, gently cupped in your hands...think about the tender feelings you would have about such a cute and sweet creature...can you imagine seeing yourself this way? The next time you think harsh, judging and critical thoughts about yourself (or another person for that matter)...imagine the puppy, or the kitten...and ask yourself whether you would treat the furball with such harshness...?

We need a little warm and fuzzy in our lives...it is such a hard-edged world we live in. Wouldn't it be nice to be the puppy, and to have someone hold us gently in their hands? You can be that to yourself, and to others...but it may require some conscious effort on your part, and the practice of visualizing the little furries whenever the urge to be harsh kicks in.

Let's try it...just for today.