self-love Archives

3 Ways of Loving Yourself this Summer

Summer is my favorite time of year. As the Sun comes out and the temperature rises it makes it seem so much easier to love and take care of myself. Things that make me feel good happen naturally—more time outside, fresh fruits and veggies are plentiful. The list goes on and on…

However, summer is the fiery season of growing, reaching and stretching. The days are long and so is the work we put in before the fruits of our labor can be picked. We must balance this work with deep loving of the self so we don’t burn ourselves out before we’ve reached the harvest.

I’d love to share three tips on how to love yourself in the heat of summer with you.

Let’s start with the practical for the physical body—Minerals. Summer brings fun activities that can include things like movement, sugar, and alcohol, all things that dehydrate the body. We always remember to drink more water in summer but are you adding salt? Sea salt is packed with minerals. Our bodies need a delicate balance of magnesium, potassium and sodium to stay hydrated and function optimally. You can drink all the water in the world on a hot July day, but if you don’t have the minerals to utilize the water you can still not be hydrated properly.

My absolute favorite way to spice up my summer water and get my minerals at the same time is to add watermelon flavored LMNT. It’s a party in my mouth and I always feel so much better when I have a packet a day. LMNT is a newer company that doesn’t have any harmful additives in their hydration packets, total win. Loving yourself doesn’t have to be complicated. It can simply be adding Celtic sea salt to your meal or LMNT packet to your water!

Now let’s talk about how you’re nourishing yourself on a deeper soulful level—Nature. In my part of the world, just North of Boston, MA, this is the season of being outside of reconnecting with the Earth after a long winter and cold spring. Mother Earth is a part of all of us, and she has an incredible ability to recalibrate our being. As electrical beings we are constantly inundated with signals from our technology that can interfere with our own bodily signals. When we are in this unbalanced state the whispers of our soul are harder to hear. Unplugging from daily life and tuning into nature is a wonderful cure for our over-stimulated and ungrounded bodies to bring us back to love.

With summer weather there is no excuse not to be outside and take a pause. Take your socks and shoes off and connect your feet and body with the earth. Find a tree to lean against and breathe in the wonderment of being human and surrounded by nature’s magic. Pay attention to her strength in both the quiet whispers and the voluminous roars and do so without an agenda. Leave your phone at home and open your heart to her essence. Allow her to lovingly weave your body and soul together again as one. Love is all that is real and everything else is a misconception. Nature reminds us of this through her intricate webs that always support her wellbeing.

Once you’ve taken care of your physical and spiritual body how are you growing your love for yourself this summer? What intentions have you set for yourself in this season that will open and grow your heart’s connections? Summer naturally creates more space for us to grow and stretch to make more room for us to love ourselves, if we have first taken care of ourselves.

For me, I want amazing soul mate friends who fit perfectly in my world and I in theirs. I set the intention and created a beautiful altar with love crystals and idols that resonated with my intention. Within two weeks I had four new phone numbers of potential friends. Now, for the rest of the summer I’ll be dancing with these beautiful women to see if we can nurture a relationship. How can you spend the rest of your summer fostering and tending to your loving intentions of this season? Think about areas of your life where you need more love and support. How can you actively choose to illuminate love in this area? Love is a choice and we can always come back to it.

I hope the rest of your summer is filled with sunshine, nature and lots of love. 😉

XoMariah

Mariah Kimball

Mariah is the Program Manager for Kim Woods Advisory. She’s also a Spiritual Teacher and True Love Mentor as she holds two succulent energies: Liquid Love to heal the pathways back to love and receiving and Love’s Pure Light to illuminate the love and potential in your life. She lives on the NH seacoast with her soul mate husband, two children and new fur baby. She loves all things chocolate, CrossFit and crystals.

What Do I Want for Mother’s Day?

“What do you want for Mother’s Day?” my husband asks me for the fourteenth time now.

I roll my eyes and think to myself, “What do I want for Mother’s Day? Well, let’s see, where do I start?”

I could cheekily answer him by saying, “Gee, how about world peace? Or, I know, renewable energy that reverses climate change, or affordable locally farmed organic goods for everyone.”

What do I want for Mother’s Day? I really loathe this question. I loathe it because I cannot be completely honest with my answer. I loathe it because some part of me wants him to just KNOW. I loathe it because it’s really not a day. It’s a moment. It’s a complete misnomer – Mother’s Day. There is no DAY in Mother’s Day.

When asked this question, the answers in my head are so different than the ones that come out of my mouth.

When the kids were infants, what did I want for Mother’s Day? I wanted to sleep the entire day – the ENTIRE day and through the next night. I wanted so desperately to sleep.

When the kids were toddlers, what did I want for Mother’s Day? I wanted to walk upright for one entire day without having to lean down to hold someone’s little hand, hunched over taking micro steps to keep him or her from falling.

When the kids were in the incessant questioning period, what did I want for Mother’s Day? I wanted to be mute – completely mute for one entire day.

Now, what do I want for Mother’s Day? I want food to fall from the sky. I want it to appear magically, completely cooked and ready to eat, without my having to have anything to do with it.

What do I want for Mother’s Day? I want my husband to know. I want him to know without asking me what I would like for Mother’s Day.

What do I want for Mother’s Day? I want the day – the whole day, not the 15 minutes or so where the kids are excited to give you their gifts, which are awesomely made by the way, and there is a breakfast of sorts and then, it’s over – completely finished.

“Can we go get the poster board I need for school now?”

“I need a ride to practice.”

“What’s for dinner, Mom?”

“He’s touching me…she’s in my way…he looked at me…MOM!!!”

“What do you want for Mother’s Day?” my husband asks me and I think about it.

You know what, I know exactly what I want for Mother’s Day. I want a whole day – one entire day. I want a day where I can be alone for part of it, just basking in the moment, where I can see a really close friend & we just immerse ourselves in a delicious conversation. I want a day where I can spend some time alone with my husband, where I can get a pedicure, buy some flowers, walk on the beach, laugh with my children. I want a day made up of perfectly luscious moments.

I want a lot apparently and it’s completely unrealistic to imagine a Mother’s Day where all of these things will happen. This is not a movie where your life is flashing by in perfect synchronization to the music. This is real life and in real life what I want for Mother’s Day will come and go in a moment. Flash, blink, gone.

So, I have a plan. I have a plan this Mother’s Day. My plan is take many moments over the next few weeks to bring myself what I want for Mother’s Day. Create the perfect Mother’s Day just for myself. Who says it has to only be a day?

When I am at the market getting the food that will fall from the sky, I will buy myself a bouquet of flowers.

When I am making dinner one night this week, I will call a really close friend and make plans to see each other – soon and for a nice amount of time.

I will mark the calendar to have dinner with my husband.

I will make an appointment for a pedicure.

I will make space one morning next week to walk the beach.

I will spend Mother’s Day basking in each moment, laughing with my children and enjoying my husband. I will do this and not be annoyed when I am asked to help cook dinner or to drive someone somewhere or to stop a fight. I will completely relax and enjoy this Mother’s Day, because I know I will have these totally pleasurable moments coming up in the next few weeks.

“What do you want for Mother’s Day?” my husband asks me.

I smile secretly and answer him honestly, “For Mother’s Day, I just want food to fall from the sky.”

As always wishing you joy,

Kim

Kim Woods

Kim Woods, Business Strategist & Master Astrologer, creator of Do You Know, Like and Trust Yourself™ Method, helps business leaders make smarter decisions, strengthen their relationships and make more money. Her work is east meets west, ancient wisdom and modern techniques and intuition plus practical methods. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and welcomes her children, Nick and Katy, when they return home from college. She loves being on the ocean, gardening and cooking.

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