The Seven Pillars of Self Care

Happiness is the highest form of health.

Dalai Lama

In July, I will be launching my 5th (I think?) 101 Things List in 1001 Days. I am working on my list at the moment but a couple of the items on there already are relating to self-care. Due to this I thought I would launch a series on here entitled Self Care Saturdays. Now I don’t intend to produce this weekly, as I will run out of things to say, but at least once a month, I should be enough.

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Did you know that besides there being Seven Pillars of Wisdom, there are also Seven Pillars of Self Care. I personally only discovered this recently while I was doing some research into self-care, or at least I think I did. As it is a new discovery for me, I thought it would be a great way to start my self care posts. Over the next few weeks, months, years, I am sure I will go into each of them into more depth while I explore my own self-care journey.

The Seven Pillars of Self Care

Now I have actually seen several versions of the Seven Pillars, so, I settled on these below which were on the University of Kansas website. These seven headings encompass everything associated with self care.

Mental – This obviously refers to having a health mindset, by practicing mindfulness.

Emotional – Healthy coping strategies for any stresses that might occur in your daily life.

Physical – Taking care of your body by nutrition, exercise and rest.

Environmental – By taking care of the places around you, such as your living and work spaces.

Spiritual – This is to help you gain a sense of meaning. This could be through faith or by enjoying nature.

Recreational – Taking time to complete hobbies and activities that interest you.

Social – Building relationships and making connections with others. Preferably in real life but on-line communities count too.

What do you think?

Over the next few weeks I am going to be making a list of items/activities etc… that come under each heading.