nurturing

I worked on nurturing myself today. I think most days I take it easy on myself. I try to give myself what I need. But I think one can be giving without being nurturing. I can give myself a break, but not in a warm and suportive way. Nurturing requires support and encouragement; not simple giving. Further, you have to nurture yourself before you can nurture others.

I wasn't raised on a lot of nurturance. You did what you had to do on your own and often before you were ready to do it. There wasn't a lot of warm support and encouragement in my house.

I'm a generous person, but may not be a particularly nurturing one. I realize now, that being nurturing means to give with a gentle spirit, a genuine smile, a nice word and a soft and warm touch of encouragment. I can give someone the right of way while driving with an exasperated sigh and an impatient wave of my hand. Or, I can smile and wave with an 'after you' opening of my hand. I can give my son money for school and say, "here, this is for you." or I can put my arm around him and hug him and say, "here I want you to have this.' In both instances, I'm giving, but only in the latter am I being nurtrant.

I think nurturance runs on a continuum. One is not simply nurturant or not nurturant. One is more or less nurturant. I'm becoming more nurturant. With myself and others.

Thanks for reading.