Before I go on to much, did you see Monday's post by the lovely Jackie? You can find it here.

We had an intense week, one during which self care normally gets put completely on the backburner, if you remember to think about yourself in the first place!
If its one of those days (or longer!) I try to take a brief moment in the midst of it all to centre myself. Sometimes my boys join me and sometimes a friend joins me but generally its just a moment for me. A brief 2 minute break to recharge.

One of my favourite ways to do this is by inviting my bell and as I listen to its gentle sound and feel it vibrate through me I light a smudgestick and smudge myself. I waft its sacred breath around my head and work my way down towards the earth firmly placing my feet on the floor, grounding myself and giving myself a an anchor, a reminder that there is more than the stress of today.

Smudging seems to be shrouded in mystery for some and the most natural thing for others. Very simply it is burning herbs, that have been bound together to form a stick, to remove negative energies and cleanse the object/person that is being smudged.

Generally white sage is used, a herb considered sacred by many. But really you can choose a herb that feels good to you for the purpose you wish to use it for. I have smudge-bundles for cleansing in which I use sage but I also have bundles in which I choose different herbs. Some to corrospond with a chakra and some that I use in the bedrooms, after having cleared with sage, they promote good sleep.

I gave up on pretty fans for smudging some time ago. They are normally made with feathers, which when you have kids, are far to delicate. A while ago I saw an image of someone smudging with a whole wing from a roadkill bird. The image sparked something inside me and I turned to my basket with fabrics and started cutting and sewing. The result was a fan that can be chucked in the washingmachine and can take a bit of a beating whilst still looking great. For me the perfect fan, I don't have to worry about it getting broken, and even if it does I can mend it or replace it quite easily.

I have very basic sewingskills so pretty much anyone should be able to make this for themselves if they want to
You need:
*The pattern
*a piece of thickish cotton the size of 2 A4's washed & ironed before you start cutting & sewing.
*batting of some sort , I used wool because A: I have a lot of it and B: it doesn't burn, it smoulders for a few seconds and then goes out.
*A needle, you want something fairly long
*Thread doubled up or use quilting thread.
*a marker that either dissolves in water or dissapears within 24 hours due to light exposure
*You might want a linedrawing of your power animal/guide/an important symbol
*and you might want crayons to colour the fabric using this tutorial
*you will also need a couple of bits of tape and pins

Print out the pattern that's here and pin it to the back of the fabric and use your tape to stick it against a window (or if you are fancy and have a lightbox use that) use your special marker to draw it onto the fabric take it of and now place it on the other piece of fabric but the other way around. So you are drawing it reversed.

Cut it out leaving an extra 1.5 cms or so around the entire fan. Place the two piece together the drawn on sides facing each other make sure everything lines up well pin it together.
Sew around the outside line leaving a gap to turn it inside out and stuff it
Turn it inside out fill it with your stuffing of choice and sew the long pink line going all around the fan.
Next up is the second longest line (dark purple) then working from the pointy end you sew the shorter lines. You don't need to sew a circle if you don't want to. It makes it a bit firmer but not significantly so.
Carry on sewing the shortish lines until you get to the big light pink area. If you decided to fill this area in with your power animal sew that now.
Tuck in the bit of seam that will be hanging out and stitch the fan shut.


If you want to you can attach ribbons and bells and such whatever you fancy! Make it yours. When you are done get your smudgestick and enjoy a moment of self care :)

And then its Wednesday again! my goodness the week flew past this week.  I've been busy wresteling with the goddess etsy team blog and it looks like its winning! Reading more about being an Indigo, which is helping me understand myself and my boys so much more! WE've done some more DIY and enjoyed the outdoors when it was dry.

Tomorrow is our 6th wedding anniversary so I have also been daydreaming about the past 6 years, how we have grown as people and how our lives have changed. Not just the obvious growing but going from parenting 1 explosive boy to 3, owning our own house (with mortgage but still) and finally after many years of waiting we were able to be in a position to have furry friends living with us and the responsibility that comes with that too. Life changed a lot (for the better) in a relatively short time.

The anniversary coming up has also made me think about the biggest thing I learned, the biggest change in *my* life. Easily that is the fact that I know look after *me*, that I no longer put everyone else and their puppydog first. You know how they tell you in an airplane: "in case of cabinpressure loss place your own oxygen mask on first"? Well its like that in real life too, the oxygen mask in this case is obviously taking care of yourself.

You are probably thinking dear god woman stop on the self care already, but it appears to many of you still put yourself on the backburner.  Really stop! take your needs seriously!

If you need some help getting started or maybe you need ideas of what to do with yourself because its been so long you can't remember what you enjoy I have some ideas!

Barefoot Breathing: the e-course is a 30 day journey into the heart of nature for Soul-deep reconnection. Registration is open now and the course begins on Sunday 11th September.
Discover a programme of outdoor nature connections, intuitive inner processes, creative play, Soul work and barefoot breathing. By the end of this course you’ll feel your heart beating with the ancient rhythm of the Earth. Do you feel the heart call? Join us as we reconnect… sole to Soul.

The Parent Inspiration Tool-kit has grown out of my experiences as a therapist for over 17 years and as a parent. I know how tough it can be to orient oneself through all the conflicting parenting information out there. All too often parenting information focuses on how to parent your children and ignores one of the key factors in this equation: the parent. We come into our roles as parents with our own experiences of being parented when we were children. Sometimes this helps us and sometimes these experiences may interfere with our finding our own voice as parents.I truly believe that being the best parent we can be begins with self-care and taking care of our own needs. The Parent Inspiration Tool-Kit is designed to help parents focus on themselves and their needs first, so that they are better equipped to guide their children.

A glorious circle of women who come together in a non judgemental way to share, support and be. Included in the membership are the tons and tons of ecourses Leonie has made. Go have a look!

I had quite a lot of responses to last weeks self care post. Everyone agreed that taking care of oneself is ver important, yet a lot of people admitted to not taking care of themselves regularly enough. I've been toying with the idea of a self care day on the blog for awhile, sort of a reminder to my readers to top up. 

I'd love to know if you have a self care routine in place? What do you do te ensure your needs are met? Do you plan your self care into your day or do you go for when I find a moment aproach? If you find it difficult to meet your own needs regularly why? Is it guilt? I hear this a lot from other mums, they feel guilty when they take time for themselves, or selfish. Well I'm here to tell you you should never feel guilty for taking care of yourself, if you don't do it who does?!

Something so very easily forgotten, and something so many mothers don't value enough. Self care, time to fill your cup. I talk to to many mums online and in real life that sacrifice all to care for their families. They often say how tired they are, that life doesn't excite them anymore, marriages are not what they used to be and they feel like they have lost touch with who they are.

This is something I feel strongly about. I was once like that, I have a husband who works 12 hours a day away from the house and I don't live near any of mine or his family. I have 3 boys 2 with sleeping issues, one has high needs one has ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Suddenly I was having healthproblems I was sent in to have some tests done and nothing really came out of that. Then a GP diagnosed me with Asthma, he was sure that was it. I had the most horrific allergic reaction.
I saw a different GP in the surgery, he took the time to listen to me and at the end he prescribed something very natural, very simple. SLEEP.

The whole event was a big wake up call for not just me but also hubby. Sure he worked a lot during the week but he got decent sleep he got breaks from his job and when he leaves the office work generally stays there.

I did a major overhaul on *my* life. I get a  lie in every weekend to catch up on lost sleep. I schedule time for me during the day, real time. Not the time that I spend on twitter whilst sitting in the bathroom with ds2.2 because I can't leave him alone or the big spider will eat him.
I spend time every day playing my ukulele. I schedule time to do some knitting, and time for meditation. These are on my to do list, the one where everything on the list has to be done before I go to bed.

 I love to meet new folks with similar interests, hubbies schedule and the kids's needs mean I can't just go on a course in the other end of the country where I would meet those folks. Thats where the internet comes in very handy. As you know I am a member of the goddess circle and I just signed up for the barefoot breathing course. Its a great way to connect with likeminded people and I have met quite a few people that are fairly local even!

What do you do to recharge? Do you have a routine in place to care for yourself? or do you tend to forget and get sucked into caring for those you love?