How Will You Tend To Yourself Today?
People ask me how to start a ripple.
Well, the answer is both simple and complicated: you don't start with the world. You start with yourself.
With the pause you take between boiling pasta and packing lunches.
With the quiet walk where you leave your phone behind.
With the paint you smear over paper just because your fingers needed to move.
We spend so much time trying to be generous with others that we forget to tend to ourselves.
We don’t notice our own rhythms. We keep ourselves from rest. We feel guilty about indulging—in a nap, an ice cream scoop, a long bath.
I struggle with this, too. Some mornings, I catch myself scrolling through my inbox before I've even fully woken up. Not because it’s anything urgent—but because habit runs faster than presence.
What small moment of stillness could I have given myself instead—maybe I would’ve noticed it was the Nuttall’s Woodpecker tapping on the pine tree outside? Or that the fragrance wafting in was from the first jasmine blossoms?
What about you? Where do you find those small moments of intentional pause?
Maybe it's in the steam rising from your coffee cup. Or in the five deep breaths before taking on your day. Or in the way sunlight catches dust particles in your home, like glitter.
These aren't luxuries. They're lifelines. The well we draw from when the world asks for our energy.
When we gift ourselves these moments, we soothe our nervous systems, we walk softer, lighter. And the ripples we create then echo outward—gently, meaningfully, unmistakably.
So, if you want to start a ripple: start with yourself today. One small moment. One tiny luxury. One little pause.
How will you tend to your self today?
