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Free self study exercise


What comes to your mind when you think about taking care of yourself? What do you actually do? Can you think of anything right now that will get a smile on your face? Which part of you needs that extra loving? Great if you can!

But do not worry if nothing (other than that delicious chocolate bar staring you from your purse) comes to your mind. That's what we are about to do here.

I want to introduce you to a little thing called Care about me -menu.

The idea is super simple, but for some reason I know very few people who actually have this Care-menu on their fridge. I really want you to be one of those persons who has this in their toolbox. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have this on your phone notes as well.

The goal is to create space in your daily schedule for intentional self-care and pleasure.

I know that this can be hard to do. And even if you manage to find a moment, then you hit a blank in what to actually do. If you're having a hard time coming up with ideas, just ask other people for suggestions and figure out what it means in your personal case, as we are all different and we all have different needs.

This is something you can utilize especially in those moments when you need the pampering. Maybe you've had a shitty day and you need something to help you recover or you just want to reward yourself. Now at that moment you're having trouble coming up with the perfect thing to do. So, you turn on the TV or scroll down Facebook. But at the end of the day, you don't feel fulfilled because TV or FB did not feed your soul. You my love, have settled for a half-pleasure, when your soul needs full on recovery pleasure pampering! In these instances, let the Care about me -menu serve as your guide. Think of this like a menu you receive when you sit down at a restaurant. Sometimes, when you take your seat, you don’t know what you want to order. You just feel hungry. As soon as you scan the menu, one or two dishes stand out. Pretty soon, there’s one dish that’s calling your name. You finish scanning the menu and declare, “Yes, that’s EXACTLY what I want to eat right now.”

Now, imagine that we're talking about pleasure instead of restaurant food. It contains a list of the things that are pure pleasure for you. Blisslist. Some of the things on your blisslist will take 2 minutes, others will take 3 hours. Some cost money, others don't. Everything on the list should be fun enough to tempt you away from mindless TV and distract you from social media.

This month, you have this amazing opportunity to create your own blisslist. Fill it with lots of ways to reward yourself, pleasure yourself, and tempt yourself. Now it doesn't necessarily have to be instant pleasure, a sense of reward is fine too.

Here are the instructions for creating this Care about me -menu.

1. Take a big piece of paper and a pen. Use beautiful colors if it gives you pleasure.

2. Start writing down what comes to your mind when you think about pleasure, no editing yet!

3. Include things, events, people, and experiences that nourish your soul and make you feel really good.

4. When you get, let's say 30 things on your list, start organizing them into two groups BIG and SMALL (use your gut feeling in how to do this).

5. Copy other peoples great ideas.

6. Everything on the list should be blissful enough to make you sigh with delight when you read it. It’s best if you have lots of variety in your list, so you can meet all of your moods, desires and time slots.

Users manual

1. Display it proudly whereever you and your better half can see it, send it to your friends, shout it out on the streets

2. Add items on the menu constantly

3. Make it look delicious

4. Remind yourself that it exists

5. Enjoy

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www.ahaahelsinki.com

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