We are living in a chronically stressful world. Especially now. While I am writing this blog the world is still in lockdown due to COVID-19. This lockdown has caused serious mental health issues and questions due to the uncertainty.

People ask “where are my next meal coming from?’

Sole providers ask “how am I going to provide for my family when I don’t have an income?”

Business owners, who have a workforce ask “when and what steps will the company take in order to survive?”

Leaders and Presidents ask “how are we going to keep a nation safe?”

And all the other questions in between.

In these unprecedented times I once again realised the importance of nourishing my soul.

In this blog post I am going to share with you the 5 ways I am doing it.

I am connecting with myself

Being is the nature or essence of a person.

When I am connecting with myself, I am connecting to my essence or my nature.

When I was younger and more naive, I didn’t know my essence. I was disconnected from myself.

I have been disconnected from myself that my mental health suffered and I walked the challenging road with debilitating anxiety. My relationships suffered. My work suffered. My health suffered.

My body was in a constant fight or flight mode. Exhausted. Paralysed with fear.

About a month before the pandemic hit the world, I was challenged by my coach about the anxiety “stuckness”. I didn’t have an answer at that time because I was disconnected from my essence of being.

On that day the hard work began to get back into alignment. I had taken the time to get to know myself intimately.

First I had to make the choice: do I want to be aligned or do I want to stay stuck in my anxiety spiral. I choose alignment.

Then I had to choose: how am I showing up to life? I am showing up as confident, elegant and poised, intentional and intuitive and an on-purpose trailblazer.

Yes, there are days when anxiety threatens to take over.

Yes, I am experiencing uncertainty and questions in this time.

Yes, some days my family is making me bonkers.

Yes, some days are hard.

Yes, I do want to call it quits at times when times are hard.

On those day I quickly come to the realisation that I am misaligned and not connected to myself. I have lost touch with my essence.

On those days I,

• journal, I write pages and pages
• meditate and pray purposefully
• read books that help to create feel-good feelings (Big Magic from Elizabeth Gilbert is a favourite and The Alchemist from Paulo Coelho)
• rest and catch up with my breath
• sit in the sun on the grass and just soak up the energy of mother nature
• hug my children a little extra and a little longer

Being connected with myself, I now know how to create a life of comfort for myself.

Creating a life of comfort

Comfort is being physically at ease and enjoying well-being.

Soulful simplicity.

A way to nourish my soul.

This lockdown time brought me back to the realisation that life is to be enjoyed slow and simple.

To enjoy slow and easy mornings.

Steaming cups of coffee.

Intentional and deliberate showers.

Spending time with loved ones.

Laughing.

Surrounding yourself with like-minded people.

Letting go off all that is no longer serving me.

Aligning with what is most important.

Appreciating the beauty in my life.

Being productive, instead of just being busy.

Do you want to create more comfort in your life?

Is your soul yearning for simplicity?

You can receive the Create Comfort, 4-part email series. In this email series, I will share tips and tricks with you to enjoy more comfort in your life.

To enjoy nourishment of my soul, I need to dig deep and do the work. Creating comfort ask of me to practice inner self-care.

Inner self-care

Inner self-care is the practice of taking active role in protecting your own well-being.

Well-being is the state of being comfortable, happy and healthy.

With hard work and dedication, I am enjoying well-being in my life. I rarely get sick, the worst a cold. I can’t remember the last time I had to take antibiotics or any medication for that matter.

Having suffered from adrenaline fatigue syndrome and not being able to function optimally, I am not taking my well-being and dis-ease free life for granted.

Inner self-care is more than just the enjoyment and practising of self-care. Inner self-care is about connecting within and getting to know my essence. It is a soul connection.

Inner self-care is about coming face-to-face with past hurts and trauma. It is about facing it and deciding to heal it.

I am broken.

I am battered.

I am seeking.

I am vulnerable.

Inner self-care creates a space where I can forgive my brokenness so that I can experience healing.

Healing is a process.

Healing doesn’t happen linear. Or in a particular order.

There isn’t a timeframe for healing.

Healing is an intentional activity.

The biggest lesson I learned in my healing journey: I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE.

Therefore I am deserving of healing.

I can now acknowledge my story without guilt and shame.

I can forgive the past and the hurt without judgement.

I am showing up, daily, to live my best life.

I am practising inner self-care daily. This practice asks of me to stay grounded. Being grounded allows me to be safe in my body, mind and spirit.

I am grounded

Being grounded is about being sensible and well-balanced.

When I was suffering from anxiety I wasn’t grounded in my being. I was disconnected from my essence.

When I was first introduced to chakras I was sceptical about it. I wasn’t sure about it. I began my research on chakras very slowly and with caution. Until I realised, I am energy and my chakras are part of my energy field. I am not an expert on chakras, I am writing this because it has been of great value in my life.

Chakras are the 7 energy fields or meridians in the body. Each one of them has a different colour and function in the body. They are deeply connected with one another.

I want to tell you more about the root chakra. It is the first chakra and the energy colour is red.

This is energy field is found near the tailbone or sit bone. It is at the base of the spine.

The root chakra is the grounding chakra. I spent the most time with my root chakra because I felt so disconnected and ungrounded. By connecting with my root chakra I allowed my body the space to feel safe again.

Anxiety is the feeling of not feeling safe in your body and mind. Your body is feeling as though it has to fight or flee or freeze. Ungrounded. Unsafe.

When I allowed my mind to connect to the energy field of my root chakra and say the affirmation “I am safe. I am grounded. I am present.”, I allowed myself a space where I could feel safe in my mind and body.

I check in daily with my chakra’s, especially with my root chakra. When I check in with myself, I am creating comfort in my mind and body. When I am comfortable, I am aligned and connected with God.

I am connected with God

I am fearfully and wonderfully made by God.

I wasn’t supposed to be alive. Yet, here I am today. Alive and well.

For the longest time, my life was built on the limitation that I shouldn’t be alive. I didn’t feel good with the life I was living. I wasn’t enjoying the abundance around me. I was actually just surviving. Never thriving.

Through hard work and dedication with my internal self-care practice I was confronted with this truth “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. No bone was hidden from You when you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

Wow… I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Yet the doctor told my mom that her baby was most probably not alive, but there is a greater purpose and calling on my life.

I begin my day by asking first: “What would you have me do today? What is on your agenda for my life?”

Everything that is happening in my life is Divinely Guided.

I am living in a chronically stressful life.

I have had my struggles with mental health.

I am in lockdown with uncertainty about what the future holds.

All of this is true.

Today I am finding myself in the overflowing stream of Well-being. I can resist the flow and not experience the many benefits, but it will flow none the less. Or I can choose to be in the flow and experience alignment and Divine Guidance.

I have been guided to start a Women’s Weekly Devotional. It is called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. It is a Facebook group and you can access it here.

The Women’s Weekly Devotional will start on the 30th of May. You can join the group in the meantime.

Life is about creating joy and comfort in our everyday lives. You don’t have to settle for the mundane. You can choose to enjoy the abundance and richness of life.