Does your typical day start with a repeat of the thoughts you had right before going to sleep, grasping and fearing to forget the many things you told yourself you'd do?

Do you check out of your mind as a way to care for yourself, or turn on the TV and play games on your phone as a way to relax?

Do you find yourself recounting the things you did today that were "good" so you know you're a worthwhile person before you can fully relax?

If you said yes to any of these things, don't feel guilty. I do all of them every day.

Y'all, we are so hard on ourselves! I spent maybe 15 minutes today on a heated table, receiving acupuncture for the very first time (oh yes, I will be talking about Essential Acupuncture quite a bit in the near future). I am already sure the guasha (like, scraping but not scraping...we'll get into it another time) and needles and communication about how I live in my body were already helping.

What I was especially grateful for: a mandatory period of time in which my only job was to be still in a calm room.

Time and time again, my thoughts drifted from things I felt guilty about to things for which I am grateful. The longer I thought about any particular thing, the more I let go of the negative feelings associated with it. The rapid-fire "don't forget," "crap, I didn't check in," and "if I hadn't eaten that thing" had time to simmer into "it's just one thing, I can do that anytime," "I'm so grateful to that client for teaching me this thing," and "I really needed protein, interesting how my body told me that."

All I needed was to be quiet.