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45 Simple Self-Care Practices for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Soul

“There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.” ~Brian Andreas

Do you ever forget to take care of yourself?

I know. You’re busy, and finding the time to take proper care of yourself can be hard. But if you don’t, it won’t be long before you’re battered from exhaustion and operating in a mental fog where it’s hard to care about anything or anyone.

I should know.

A few years ago, I had a corporate job in London, working a regular sixty-hour week. I enjoyed working with my clients and colleagues, and I wanted to do well.

But I had no life.

I rarely took care of myself, and I was always focused on goals, achievements, and meeting the excessive expectations I had of myself. My high tolerance for discomfort meant I juggled all the balls I had in the air—but at the expense of being a well-rounded human being.

So I made an unusual choice. I quit my job and moved to Thailand to work in a freelance capacity across many different countries and companies, which enabled me to set my own hours and engagements.

I began to take care of myself better, scheduling in time alone, for exercise and for fun.

I got to know myself better and know what I needed—not just to function, but to flourish.

But guess what?

At the end of last year, I spent Christmas alone in bed, completely exhausted.

Why did this happen?

Well, I had been running my busy website and consulting in seven countries in just two months. I forgot to take care of myself again, and I got a nasty case of strep throat.

Self-Care Isn’t a One-Time Deal

The strep throat was a harsh reminder that self-care isn’t something you do once and tick off the list.

It’s the constant repetition of many tiny habits, which together soothe you and make sure you’re at your optimum—emotionally, physically, and mentally.

The best way to do this is to implement tiny self-care habits every day. To regularly include in your life a little bit of love and attention for your own body, mind, and soul.

The following ideas are tiny self-care activities you can fit into a short amount of time, usually with little cost.

Pick one from each category, and include them in your life this week.

Tiny Self-Care Ideas for the Mind

1. Start a compliments file. Document the great things people say about you to read later.

2. Scratch off a lurker on your to-do list, something that’s been there for ages and you’ll never do.

3. Change up the way you make decisions. Decide something with your heart if you usually use your head. Or if you tend to go with your heart, decide with your head.

4. Go cloud-watching. Lie on your back, relax, and watch the sky.

5. Take another route to work. Mixing up your routine in small ways creates new neural pathways in the brain to keep it healthy.

6. Pay complete attention to something you usually do on autopilot, perhaps brushing your teeth, driving, eating, or performing your morning routine.

7. Goof around for a bit. Schedule in five minutes of “play” (non-directed activity) several times throughout your day.

8. Create a deliberate habit, and routinize something small in your life by doing it in the same way each day—what you wear on Tuesdays, or picking up the dental floss before you brush.

9. Fix a small annoyance at home that’s been nagging you—a button lost, a drawer that’s stuck, a light bulb that’s gone.

10. Punctuate your day with a mini-meditation with one minute of awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations; one minute of focused attention on breathing; and one minute of awareness of the body as a whole.

11. Be selfish. Do one thing today just because it makes you happy.

12. Do a mini-declutter. Recycle three things from your wardrobe that you don’t love or regularly wear.

13. Unplug for an hour. Switch everything to airplane mode and free yourself from the constant bings of social media and email.

14. Get out of your comfort zone, even if it’s just talking to a stranger at the bus stop.

15. Edit your social media feeds, and take out any negative people. You can just “mute” them; you don’t have to delete them. 

Tiny Self-Care Ideas for the Body

1. Give your body ten minutes of mindful attention. Use the body scan technique to check in with each part of your body.

2. Oxygenate by taking three deep breaths. Breathe into your abdomen, and let the air puff out your stomach and chest.

3. Get down and boogie. Put on your favorite upbeat record and shake your booty.

4. Stretch out the kinks. If you’re at work, you can always head to the bathroom to avoid strange looks.

5. Run (or walk, depending on your current physical health) for a few minutes. Or go up and down the stairs three times.

6. Narrow your food choices. Pick two healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and rotate for the week.

7. Activate your self-soothing system. Stroke your own arm, or if that feels too weird, moisturize.

8. Get to know yourself intimately. Look lovingly and without judgment at yourself naked. (Use a mirror to make sure you get to know all of you!)

9. Make one small change to your diet for the week. Drink an extra glass of water each day, or have an extra portion of veggies each meal.

10. Give your body a treat. Pick something from your wardrobe that feels great next to your skin.

11. Be still. Sit somewhere green, and be quiet for a few minutes.

12. Get fifteen minutes of sun, especially if you’re in a cold climate. (Use sunscreen if appropriate.)

13. Inhale an upbeat smell. Try peppermint to suppress food cravings and boost mood and motivation.

14. Have a good laugh. Read a couple of comic strips that you enjoy. (For inspiration, try Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, or xkcd.)

15. Take a quick nap. Ten to twenty minutes can reduce your sleep debt and leave you ready for action.

Tiny Self-Care Ideas for the Soul

1. Imagine you’re your best friend. If you were, what would you tell yourself right now? Look in the mirror and say it.

2. Use your commute for a “Beauty Scavenger Hunt.” Find five unexpected beautiful things on your way to work.

3. Help someone. Carry a bag, open a door, or pick up an extra carton of milk for a neighbor.

4. Check in with your emotions. Sit quietly and just name without judgment what you’re feeling.

5. Write out your thoughts. Go for fifteen minutes on anything bothering you. Then let it go as you burn or bin the paper.

6. Choose who you spend your time with today. Hang out with “Radiators” who emit enthusiasm and positivity, and not “Drains” whose pessimism and negativity robs energy.

7. Stroke a pet. If you don’t have one, go to the park and find one. (Ask first!)

8. Get positive feedback. Ask three good friends to tell you what they love about you.

9. Make a small connection. Have a few sentences of conversation with someone in customer service such as a sales assistant or barista.

10. Splurge a little. Buy a small luxury as a way of valuing yourself.

11. Have a self-date. Spend an hour alone doing something that nourishes you (reading, your hobby, visiting a museum or gallery, etc.)

12. Exercise a signature strength. Think about what you’re good at, and find an opportunity for it today.

13. Take a home spa. Have a long bath or shower, sit around in your bathrobe, and read magazines.

14. Ask for help—big or small, but reach out.

15. Plan a two-day holiday for next weekend. Turn off your phone, tell people you’ll be away, and then do something new in your own town.

Little and Often Wins the Day

With a little bit of attention to your own self-care, the fog will lift.

You’ll feel more connected to yourself and the world around you.

You’ll delight in small pleasures, and nothing will seem quite as difficult as it did before.

Like that car, you must keep yourself tuned up to make sure that you don’t need a complete overhaul.

Incorporating a few of these tiny self-care ideas in your day will help keep you in tune.

Which one will you try first?

About Ellen Bard

Ellen Bard’s mission is to help you be your best self at work and in life. A Chartered Psychologist, she’s published two books on self-care, works with those who are too tough on themselves, and loves all things that sparkle. For the free cheat sheet: 5 Unusual Tips to Take Care of Yourself, click over to EllenBard.com.

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Kelli Cooper

Hi Ellen
I loved your tips. I really liked that one about the compliments file..we can really be so critical of ourselves, and while we technically don’t need any sort of validation from the outside, it is nice when other people say nice things about us! It is all about where we put our focus and that little exercise can really help condition our minds to go towards what is good about us and not what is wrong or needs to be ‘fixed.

I resonated with what you said about a high tolerance for discomfort..that is one of the biggest problems. We put ourselves through so much crap we tend not to change until we literally can’t take it anymore and it doesn’t have to be that way. Unfortunately, we are conditioned to think being able to put up with a lot of suffering makes us strong or that we have to go through all of that to be ‘deserving’ of our successes.

Great stuff here!

Ellen Bard

Thanks Kelli, so glad you enjoyed it. The compliments file can be really useful, because our brains are conditioned to be alert for the negative. So it genuinely does take a lot more positive than negative ‘stuff’ in our environment for us to take notice of it. Compliments files (along with gratitude journals etc) are a lovely way to do that.

Wishing you a gentle day!

Rob K

Ellen- This is great. I rarely take good care. I really like “goof around a bit” especially for those of us with kids. Being silly with them helps you, helps your kids, and lets them see a different side of you.

Ellen Bard

Thanks so much Rob. I love that you goof around – and children can be a great reminder of how to take care of ourselves as they tend to take care of themselves without thinking about it. Wishing you a weekend packed with ‘play’!

Ann Njeri Davis

Ellen, Thanks for the reminder that taking care of myself is just not sleep. I need to pamper myself- taking a home Spa.

Ellen Bard

There are so many ways to take care of ourselves! Which is wonderful 🙂 Enjoy your pampering, and thanks for commenting.

Ashley Trexler

Great list! Especially love the 15 minutes of sun…I make myself do that, especially in the winter! Thanks, Ellen!

Ellen Bard

Yes, it’s so easy to get in the car when it’s dark, work all day and go home when it’s dark in the winter! But vitamin D is vital in taking care of ourselves. Wishing you a sunny weekend!

Anthony Metivier

All great tips, Ellen. I’ve got to work on just about every one of these!

Sue Anne Dunlevie

Love these ideas, Ellen. They are so helpful and some I haven’t tried before for my chronic pain.

Thanks!
Sue

Ellen Bard

Thanks Anthony, glad you found them helpful. But my advice – pick just one! Overwhelm is the enemy of self-care 🙂 Oh, and have fun with it!

Ellen Bard

Thanks Sue! I have chronic pain issues too, and self-care is a big part of managing that. The stroking yourself one, to activate your internal self-soothing system is a strange-but-useful one to try! Take care of yourself.

Sue Anne Dunlevie

Thanks for the recommendation!

Sue

SusanJ

Very nice list Ellen! My biggest takeaway is “little and often wins the day”. That’s a great one to remember when even self-care feels overwhelming.

Nicki Lee

Excellent suggestions, Ellen. The first thing I’m going to try is the mini-decluttering session. When I made a cross country move a few years ago, I could only take with me what would fit in the car; everything else got donated. I can remember how freeing it felt to not have all of that “stuff” around me. Over the years, the clutter has returned, and I know it affects me negatively. Thanks for encouraging me to clear out a couple things I don’t really need 🙂

Joanna

Great tips, Ellen and what a range!
I like ‘scheduled play’ – like ‘scheduled procrastination’, it;s great for reigniting our creativity.
I’ll go and fix that towel hook then – it’s been annoying me forever

willsk8sjax

No matter what, you should pick up (and use) the floss BEFORE you brush.

Ellen Bard

I use that in a lot of ways – if I’m in any kind of overwhelm, it really helps me to move forward. But with self-care it’s so important, if we just invest a few minutes then it can keep us grounded – if we put it off because we ‘don’t have time’ then that’s when we crash and burn. Thanks for reading Susan!

Ellen Bard

Thanks Nicki, and if you do three things a day, it really takes the pressure off, and it’s so much easier, but after a few weeks you will definitely feel lighter! Good luck and take care of yourself 🙂

Ellen Bard

Thanks Joanna. Fixing a small annoyance is one of my favourite ones funnily enough – mainly because so many of us live with teeny tiny annoyances that nonetheless impact our quality of life – but are so easily fixed! Thanks for sharing, and hope you have a playful week 🙂

Ellen Bard

That’s funny, I read a whole article from a dentist the other day that said it didn’t really matter whether we floss before or after brushing, but that we like the clean feeling of brushing after so we tend to brush after. But I’m sure like every topic there are different schools of thought! Thanks for sharing.

With the Lurker, the idea of that is that (some of us 🙂 ) have items on our to-do list that we keep just carrying forward – the ‘someday’ items we never quite get round too. And that it releases a psychological weight to just admit to ourselves we’re never going to do it (and that the world won’t fall down around us!) and cross them off.

Not every item will apply to everyone – pick what your heart, mind and soul are crying out for right now, and try those. Be kind to yourself and have a lovely week 🙂

willsk8sjax

Oh, I get it. Thanks, I have many lurkers on my to-do lists. As far as brushing goes, I like to get the food out of my teeth with floss before brushing, that way the bristles get all the way in between my teeth.

Ellen Bard

Me too 🙂 But I accept the right of people to choose 😉

Good luck with the lurkers – get rid of one this weekend!

Helen McCarthy

Great ideas Elle. We like to sum up each day with an interpretive dance. I think that’d come under “goofing around” and “get down and boogie”. It works for us and always has us laughing!

Vee

Thanks for the practical tips Ellen. I’m going to try ‘Write out your thoughts’ today!

Cate Scolnik

Hey Ellen,
Great post. I can’t chat now – I’m off to stroke my pet. 🙂

shantigirl

Wonderful…thank you!

Ellen Bard

Haha Helen, that sounds like great fun! And a two for one there 😉 Have a play-full weekend 🙂

Ellen Bard

Which has so many benefits! Have a lovely cuddle 🙂

Ellen Bard

Thanks for reading!

Ellen Bard

Thanks so much Vee. Remember to do it with self-compassion! Have a weekend full of wonderful words 🙂

Antoniya Koleva Zorluer

This is a great resource racked with valuable ideas, Ellen, thank you for making this important list for all of us!

vivian0942

;

Linda Coussement

Thanks Ellen, great to know I’m not the only one virtually burning up even AFTER I’ve chosen to ditch the corporate life and go my own way. It’s a slippery slope and can definitely need a reminder now and then!

Ellen Bard

🙂 You take your personality with you! Yes, you always need to take care of yourself – sometimes we can feel even more driven and passionate when we’re working for ourselves… hope you take a few minutes to take care of yourself this week!

Ellen Bard

Thanks so much Antoniya, much appreciated – hope you have some fun with it!

Mark Tong

Love the post Ellen – I’ll choose from each category: have a good laugh, unplug & stroke (no -hug!) a pet . Great simple doable ideas.

Ellen Bard

Love it Mark! I’m with family this weekend, and have been stroking my sister’s house rabbit – I can definitely feel the benefit (and hopefully so can the rabbit as she seems to enjoy it!). Have a relaxing weekend 🙂

Laura J Tong

I love your list Ellen, too many good ones to choose from to go for first up. That said I’ll definitely scratch a few lurkers off my list and make time for a good old boogie. Thanks for sharing such a great list of practical ideas to make time for some essential self care.

the flower gals

Great list and great timing! One of our favourite ‘self care’ things to do is make a list of all the reasons why we are valuable… don’t know where that fits in your lists but it is so wonderful for changing perspective!

Ellen Bard

Great, that’s fab! I think that’s a tiny mind tip – like a compliments file which you write yourself, perfect 🙂 There are so many more things that you can do to take care of yourself, thanks so much for sharing another idea!

Ellen Bard

Awesome Laura, hope you have a great dance! Getting rid of some lurkers is like a psychological declutter too. Have a wonderful weekend 🙂

Ilka Emig

What an amazing collection of fantastic tips. Thanks so much for sharing Ellen

Lynnie

Thanks, Ellen! Amazing tips. I am bookmarking this page to remind myself. I work full time with a lot of travelling with my job and I have also recently taken on a pretty intense course in my spare time. So, this has meant I have started to neglect looking after me. Remembering to eat, relax and pamper has become a second priority. Thank you again for the tips!! 🙂

Peter Banerjea

Hey Ellen, I love this list. Great to see you again on Tiny Buddha!

I'm still here

clean water will help mind, body and soul

Ellen Bard

Thanks so much Ilka, appreciate it. Do share them with anyone else you think that would benefit 🙂

Ellen Bard

Thanks Lynnie – you’re completely right. Sounds like you and I have similar schedules. I’ve really learned (the hard way 😉 ) that self-care is core to making sure we perform optimally. Enjoy however you choose to take care of yourself this week!

Ellen Bard

Thanks Peter, much appreciated! Have a lovely week 🙂

ELD

Very interesting – and very useful. I am going to eliminate one of my lurkers and deal with one of those small annoyances. It always helps to be reminded, Ellen. Thank you.