September is both Self-Improvement Month

and Self-Care Awareness Month,

so make this month all about you.

Self-care advocates often suggest visualizing a “happy place” to relieve stress and induce relaxation.  My imaginary “happy place” isn’t a sunny beach with waves rolling in and out.  My go-to relaxation visualization is a huge and mostly empty loft in a formerly industrial building.  The hardwood floors gleam in the sunlight streaming through the wall of ceiling-high windows.  Filmy white curtains blow about in a brisk and almost-chilly breeze.  Lozenges of sunlight move slowly across the floors.  Ahhhhhh.  I feel so relaxed.  Until the dogs start barking, and I am abruptly back into my own sometimes loud and cluttered life.

My other go-to self-care routines tend to be cake- and nap-based, which are lovely (and delicious) but not necessarily good.  This month, I am going to try for self-care through self-improvement instead.  There are so many books on so many ways to make positive changes in our lives.  Take a look at some of these books, and see if any of the suggestions are improvements you can incorporate.

Costing the Earth:  How to Live Greener and More Cheaply

Get it Together: Organizational Tips for the Wildly Successful Procrastinator

It’s Simple, Really:  Our Lives are Frittered Away by Detail … Simplify, Simplify

Lost Time is Gone Forever: It’s Your Only Time, Spend it Wisely

What Doesn’t Kill You:  Stress Can Find You at Home, at Work, at Play

Pick up some of these books, and then join me for some lovely cake.

Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake.

Dean Koontz