We are all born healers; to be human is to heal.

Babaji's 2023 message was three-fold; restraint, compassion, and giving.

Let's focus on giving today. Last time I touched on "giving" as a stand-alone concept, whole and complete unto itself. Giving from wholeness overflowing is how we heal the world, making it essential for each of us to focus on providing for ourselves to connect with our wholeness. It could be more motivating and inspiring to think about caring for yourself as an act of having enough and overflowing. Then when you are taking the time to do something in the name of your wellness, you are also doing it indirectly for others.

Let's start with the body. The first layer of Pancha maya kosha from the Taittiriya Upanishad is called the food body, also known as your body. The body needs several basics; let's focus on a few: proper rest, enough and not too much water, and whole and complete nutrition.

Let me tell you a little secret so you can take this off your worrying list. If you wake up several times a night to change positions and go back to sleep, that's typical for the body as it cycles through the various stages of sleep. Please do not sleep with your phone in your room for several reasons, one being that if you reach for it to see the time, you could start scrolling, and scrolling is a poor choice for the body when it needs rest. Give yourself the gift of proper sleep and downtime too. Downtime could be things like being out in nature, a yoga nidra practice, or contemplating but again does not include electronics.

When you consider how much water to drink daily, consider that a cleanse type of routine or program would require you to drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day. So please follow those guidelines and consider if less might be more supportive regularly. And make sure you are drinking enough water as well. Get a sense of which statement applies best to your situation. Play with it to find the right amount for you. If you get headaches, have dry skin, or are hungry often, try adding more water and see how you feel.

Whole and complete nutritional foods mean not processed and in their original state. A complete protein source or sources are necessary as the building blocks for the body to maintain healthy function. Whole fats are essential for the brain and skin, and let me pull in mental health for a moment too. After my dad had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass, the hospital gave a complimentary class to the caregivers offering guidelines to follow after surgery. Low-fat foods, yet six pieces of bread a day are acceptable, and depression is a common after-effect of a heart attack. Hmmm, I wondered, does the common depression after-effect have anything to do with the low-fat plan? More on mind, next blog. Complete nutrition is only complete with veggies, and you need variety. Remember to have one fruit each day. That's not usually an issue; people typically eat more fruit than veggies and think that it's an acceptable trade, and it, unfortunately, isn't.

These are a few ways we can practice giving. When we give to ourselves by filling our cups first, this is a beautiful foundation for authentic genuine giving to unfold. When we focus our attention on ourselves first, we contribute significantly to healing. As healing occurs on any level for you, shifts occur within the collective. You are a born healer; you have healed and will heal again if, in no other way, your body has recovered from something. No one goes through life unscathed. You also can heal your family dynamics right there in your bodymind when you focus on yourself and your bodymind needs; that's the key. Stay focused on what is needed now. We are all born healers; to be human is to heal. When we heal ourselves in any way, we heal the past and brighten the future.