This Week's Mindful Morsel 🍪 | May 14, 2025 — The energy we bring to self-caretaking
Happy Wednesday to your magical heart đź’ś
This week I’ve been tuned into the effect our intentions have on our personal care practices. I came across this idea of the Rabbit Effect that posits kindness makes as big a difference (if not bigger) as the practice itself.
(A quick synopsis: a group of rabbits showed less detrimental effects from a poor diet because their caretaker showed kindness to them by offering pets, cuddles, and kind words.)
It got me thinking about how I approach my own self-caretaking practices. Am I kind to myself beyond when I feel like I need extra rest or healing? What kind of attitude and energy am I bringing to my routine practices like eating, movement, and resting (but also really all self care practices)?
I bring a lot of baggage to that question. More than I thought, I do things out of obligation and I feel some resentment — eating healthy and moving my body can feel like such a chore sometimes, ya know? That meme where as an adult you have to think of what to eat for dinner every night has a lot of truth.
Some high(low)lights of energies I bring to the table (the pun!) about eating and food choices:
I have to. I’m understimulated. I emotionally eat. I feel pressure to look a certain way and fit into certain clothing. I should choose certain things and avoid others.
Yikes. None of that is nourishing.
We do kind things for others because we think they’re worth it, but it’s a little too easy to only do things for ourselves out of obligation. However, I don’t do well when I feel like others are treating me as an obligation, so why would I treat myself like that and hope for a different response?
🤯
This past week I’ve been working with the affirmation “I’m worth the effort” at the beginning of each day, and it feels really supportive. I find it’s dripping into these self-caretaking practices, and I feel more cared for and like I deserve that kind of care.
I’m worth the effort.
And so are you.
If you dive into this and you’re feeling brave, let me know what comes up for you. I’d love to give your story some witness.
PS: If you’d like to know more about the specific study I mention above and others that are related, this site offers some good links to scientific publications for your nerdy mind to sink into.
Letting the good vibes take hold,
