Do you feel overworked and under-appreciated but still guilty about taking a break? Instead of eating when we’re hungry or resting when we’re tired, many women look for ways to push the boundaries by suppressing our hunger and caffeinating our energy levels \u2014 often at the expense of our own health. Illness, accidents or incapacity can force us take a hard look at our self-care and acknowledge our own needs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reba Linker recently sent me a copy of her new e-book Imagine Self Love.<\/em> I like Reba and her work but when it comes to self-help and personal growth books, I’m a very tough audience.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “When it comes to personal growth books, I’m a tough audience. #imagineselflove”]<\/p>\n

After spending three decades in the “change business” (both as a therapist and a program director) my standards a pretty high. It’s rare that I find something new. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing: personal growth is a very individual thing. Most of us need the same message in several ways before we can grab onto a change and make it our own.<\/p>\n

I was delighted to come across a completely original, powerful exercise designed to help us remember the importance of self-care. I’m not going to ruin it for you but it’s in the chapter on gratitude and involves pouring from a pitcher.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “I was delighted to come across a completely original exercise. #imagineselflove”]<\/p>\n

This one brought me back to an especially difficult time in my life. I was an already overwhelmed single mother who needed to change careers due to some unexpected health issues. Scary stuff.<\/p>\n

If you’re old enough to remember mix tapes then you have an idea how long ago it was. A friend made me a tape full of inspiring songs by women songwriters. It helped me focus on the relationship between gratitude and peace of mind. One song that made me feel particularly hopeful was Waterfall\u00a0\u00a0by\u00a0Chris Williamson. Especially this part:<\/p>\n

Filling up and spilling over
\nIt’s an endless waterfall
\nFilling up and spilling over
\nOver all.<\/p>\n

The image of an endless waterfall feels so much more abundant and less burned out than over-caffeinated busy-ness, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

##<\/p>\n

You can download a free chapter<\/a> of Imagine Self-Love<\/em>\u00a0or click here to buy it on Amazon.<\/a>\u00a0Reba Linker\u2019s self-love e-course, “9 Self-Love Keys to Change Your Life,” is at the Daily OM on a pay what you wish basis! Jump in here: http:\/\/bit.ly\/1QwuEMP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you feel overworked and under-appreciated but still guilty about taking a break? Instead of eating when we’re hungry or resting when we’re tired, many women look for ways to push the boundaries by suppressing our hunger and caffeinating our energy levels \u2014 often at the expense of our own health. Illness, accidents or incapacity can force us take a hard look at our self-care and acknowledge our own needs. Reba Linker recently sent me a copy of her new e-book Imagine Self Love. I like Reba and her work but when it comes to self-help and personal growth books, I’m a very tough audience. [Tweet “When it comes to personal growth books, I’m a tough audience. #imagineselflove”] After spending three decades in the “change business” (both as a therapist and a program director) my standards a pretty high. It’s rare that I find something new. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing: personal growth is a very individual thing. Most of us need the same message in several ways before we can grab onto a change and make it our own. I was delighted to come across a completely original, powerful exercise designed to help us remember the importance of self-care. I’m not going to ruin it for you but it’s in the chapter on gratitude and involves pouring from a pitcher. [Tweet “I was delighted to come across a completely original exercise. #imagineselflove”] This one brought me back to an especially difficult time in my life. I was an already overwhelmed single mother who needed to change careers due to some unexpected health issues. Scary stuff. If you’re old enough to remember mix tapes then you have an idea how long ago it was. A friend made me a tape full of inspiring songs by women songwriters. It helped me focus on the relationship between gratitude and peace of mind. One song that made me feel particularly hopeful was Waterfall\u00a0\u00a0by\u00a0Chris Williamson. Especially this part: Filling up and spilling over It’s an endless waterfall Filling up and spilling over Over all. The image of an endless waterfall feels so much more abundant and less burned out than over-caffeinated busy-ness, doesn’t it? ## You can download a free chapter of Imagine Self-Love\u00a0or click here to buy it on Amazon.\u00a0Reba Linker\u2019s self-love e-course, “9 Self-Love Keys to Change Your Life,” is at the Daily OM on a pay what you wish basis! Jump in here: http:\/\/bit.ly\/1QwuEMP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-10689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happiness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10689"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=10689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}