I understand how it is to be constantly stressed and feeling out of control in life. It happens to all of us at some point. The more things pile up, the more insurmountable they feel.

I’ve been there too.

Feeling unhealthy physically, worried about the state of my relationships, the clutter building up around me, and most of all, my finances. I had unpaid bills, credit card debt, and an overwhelming sense of anxiety every time I went to pay for something.
A feeling of not being to provide took over me and it affected my self-esteem.

I was scared to even think about money because the negativity surrounding it was just so all-encompassing that it became easier to avoid those thoughts entirely.

Sound at all familiar?

What this problem amounts to is a basic lack of self-care and a toxic relationship with the idea of money and abundance.

Self-care to me is not just about having a bubble bath and getting a massage or treating yourself to a slice of cake.

It’s actually much more about your day to day attitude towards yourself.

How you talk to yourself, how you treat yourself, what you put into your body, how much you move, sleep, laugh, cry, meditate, stretch, spend time in nature, spend time with friends, read books, think, appreciate, feel, love.

All those things are self-care. Balance is key, in all areas of life and emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health.

If you want to be financially and spiritually wealthy, you need to take care of yourself and your life. And you can start with small, simple, and effective solutions.

Little acts of self-care that add up over time to a life of happiness, contentment and abundance.

For me, this looked like adding ten minutes to my morning routine to do some yoga stretches. Those ten minutes soon became a habit that became 20 minutes and then sometimes an hour.

I took the time to go for a walk in my lunch break, forcing myself outside to breathe the fresh air.
I decided to finally tackle the clutter that had been building up in my home. I started flossing my teeth. I learned about meditation. I made a habit of cleaning up after myself straight away. Returning messages and phone calls immediately and tackling the things I always put off.

What I learned over this time, was that my anxiety was totally out of proportion to the actual task required of me.
I had, over time, built my life to seem far more monstrous and out of control than it actually was. When I faced my fears and looked my problems in the eye, well, they shrank.

I started to think that maybe it would be a good idea to apply these small acts of self-care to my financial issues, too. Perhaps, by being proactive, instead of burying my head in the sand, I could learn to re-balance and boost my abundance.
It was worth a try. So here’s my strategy for financial self-care:

My Steps to Financial Self-Care:

1. I made a simple list of all bills and the amounts owed, whether to the bank, a loan or a friend.
2. I created a budget and an action plan to pay off my debts. If I had small bills, I paid them off first just to lessen the load. If they were urgent, I made a specific plan to pay them off as soon as I knew I could.
3. I cancelled subscriptions and other payments that were not essential. I had to take a big look at what I actually needed in my life, how it contributed to my happiness and well-being.
4. I made a decision to save some money each week, even if at first it was as small as $1.00! Anything helped to make me feel like I was taking care of my future.
5. I made a list of all outgoings in order to keep track of where my money was going. This helped me feel more in control and understand my finances overall.
6. I started to imagine the possibilities of creating more money through unforeseen avenues. I meditated a lot on the idea of abundance.
7. I wrote the affirmation “I create my abundance from an infinite source” every day in my journal.

For me, it was a relatively slow process because I had spent so long in a form of debt denial, but over time these steps transformed my life and my finances. I learned to manage my debt and my outgoings, my savings grew and my bills were under control. I felt a sense of security and confidence that I hadn’t had in years.

A combination of meditation and positive action steps are the perfect tools for success.
As your debt decreases and you gain a sense of security over your bank account, your spiritual wisdom grows and you open to the idea of infinite abundance.
I reconnected with my true self, finding the feeling of worthiness and grace necessary to vibrate higher and to receive the blessings that the Universe can always offer and provide for us.

I learned to redefine my relationship with money, deciding to focus on it as something that I had control over, and not the other way around.

I taught myself that I had the freedom to create my own solutions and that the chance to be financially abundant existed in the field of all possibilities.

I firmly believe that my above financial steps are essential for taking care of yourself. Your income, outgoings and savings are just as important as other areas of your life and require your attention and care.

If you treat all areas of your life with the same gentle, loving attention as you would want others to treat you, you’ve understood the key to happiness and spiritual wealth.