Hey friends! We've spent the last few weeks building a foundation for Christ-centered self-care—why it matters, the four pillars that keep us steady, how to create a daily plan, and how caring for ourselves helps us discover who God created us to be.
Now, in this final episode of our series, we're zooming out to see the bigger picture: self-care isn't just about us feeling better—it's about preparing us for the mission God has entrusted to us. 💫
When we live as good stewards of our body, mind, and soul, we're not just healthier—we're equipped to bear fruit, love others more fully, and shine Christ's light in a weary world. Together, we'll connect all the pieces of this journey and explore how daily care rooted in faith becomes the soil for our unique calling to flourish.
✨ Key Takeaways:
- Self-care = stewardship. We care for the vessel God wants to work through.
- Why neglect leads to burnout, but stewardship leads to fruitfulness.
- How the foundation, pillars, CARE framework, and discovery all fit together.
- The call to mission: caring for ourselves equips us to live out God's purpose with joy.
📩 Ready to create a Christ-centered self-care plan that supports both your well-being and your calling? Email Kara at kara@karatrochta.com to set up a self-care planning session.
Because beauty held is the seed, beauty shared is the flower 🌸—you were made to bloom and share that beauty with the world!
Join The Nourished to Bloom Community: www.community.karatrochta.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/karatrochta
The Nourished to Bloom Podcast Show Notes: www.podcast.karatrochta.com/shownotes
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So throughout the course of this Christ Centered Self care series,
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we have been talking about the importance of self care with
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kind of this eternal perspective that it's all about
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taking care of ourselves so we can be prepared for the mission
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that God has entrusted to each of us to live out. So
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in this final episode of this series, we're going to tie this all together.
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Because when we live our lives as good stewards of our body, mind
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and soul, we're not just healthier or more balanced, but
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we're truly equipped to live our calling
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to bear good fruit for the Lord and to shine Christ's light
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in the world. Welcome to the Nourish to
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Bloom podcast where your faith meets your health. I'm your host,
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Kara Trachta, a registered dietitian and certified Catholic coach, and
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I'm here to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your body, your
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spirit, and the nourishment that sustains them both. In
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a world filled with noise and confusion about food,
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health and body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from
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a Christ centered perspective. Together, we'll untangle the deep
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roots of diet culture and discover what it means to truly
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care for ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind,
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body and soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of
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intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith.
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With every episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights,
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inspiration and practical tools to help you heal your
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relationship with food and embrace the beauty of your body
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as a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence and
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courage that can only be found in Christ. Join
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me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one
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that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation, the
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teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose you're called to
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fulfill. You were made to bloom,
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to come into full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit
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for the Lord with your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body,
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feed your soul and bloom into the best version of yourself, then
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you're in the right place. And I'm so happy you're here.
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Welcome to Nourish to Bloom, where every day is a sacred
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invitation to thrive.
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Hey there. Welcome back to the Nourish to Bloom podcast. I'm your
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host, Kara Trachta. So happy to be spending some time here with you
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this week and we're really going to take what we've talked
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about over the last four weeks and bring it all together. Really
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weave this path of the importance of Christ Centered
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self Care and, you know, just kind of tie it all together and really look
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at this from like this big picture view of why self care
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is important as Catholic and Christian women. And, and I
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kind of want to highlight two things here. The first being that
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when we think about self care, we got to go back to how
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the Lord calls us to live those two greatest commandments,
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to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with
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all your soul. And the second one is just like that, to love your
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neighbor as yourself. And I think self care is one of
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the ways that we can actually better live out these
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commandments, because when we see ourselves as worthy of being
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taken care of, then it allows us to look at those around
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us, the ones that we love and serve, as also being worthy,
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simply because God loves each one of us. And the next
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thing, I kind of want to weave into this because I just felt,
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I feel like I heard this message for
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a specific reason, because I think so many of us struggle with our own
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worthiness, with our own dignity, and self care can be a real
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struggle for that. But I think in general, we just have this bigger
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struggle about seeing ourselves as worthy or having dignity.
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And a few weeks ago, we were, were traveling and we were
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visiting the parish that my sister goes to, and it was
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the. The feast of the veneration of the cross or the celebration of the cross.
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And we were taught the priest in his homily was talking
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about a couple of things. One being the
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specific type of death that Jesus endured being
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crucified. And he kind of went through and talked about the different
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forms of punishment that the Romans had back in that day,
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and how they ranged in sever,
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depending on, you know, what the crime was, but then also depending on,
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like, who the person was. And so the fact that Jesus was not Roman.
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Crucifixion was the most painful, most shameful form
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of death that someone who was not Roman could endure at that
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time. And he said something that I thought was just so
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beautiful, and he said, you know, the cross was so
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shameful. Like in that time, people viewed being
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crucified as the most shameful form of death.
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And yet just by Jesus's body being on it,
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he made that very shame, shameful thing holy. And it
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struck me because I think that so many of us, we have these,
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these crosses that we're carrying. We have these things within us that we
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each are ashamed of, that we,
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that we just carry around. And if we were to just invite the
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Lord into that shame, to invite the Lord to Just merely
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touch it, that he would make it holy and divine just
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as he did the cross when he died.
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So I wanted to share that because I feel like it's such a, an invitation
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to freedom, an invitation to release from maybe any shame or
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struggle that you have been experiencing just by simply
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inviting Christ to touch that part of your life. And then the
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other thing he said was that you think about the cross with the vertical and
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the horizontal, right? And the vertical is really the love of God
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coming down to us. And the horizontal Jesus's
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outstretched arms is that sharing of that love. And I think that we
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can kind of take this image and apply it to our self care
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conversation because when we have, when we implement this Christ
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centered self care, we're really allowing the love of God to come in,
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to come down to us because we want to take care
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of ourselves because we know that we are loved, that he gave us
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this wonderful gift of our minds, bodies and souls and to be good stewards of
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it. And when we allow that to happen, then we can can then pour out
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those outstretched horizontal arms in sharing of ourselves
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with others and serving others in the specific
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mission that he has for us. So I just kind of wanted to share those
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couple of things that were really just on my mind this week
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to, to share about self care, about
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mission. Just, I don't know, the message has just been on my heart for a
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couple of weeks now and I really felt like this was a really
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good place to share this message with you as we
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kind of wrap up this whole self care series. Because over the last
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four weeks we've really laid this path together. Episode one of the
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series is all about the foundation, why
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self care matters in light of our faith. We talked about reframing
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self care as stewardship and not selfishness. And then in the
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next episode we really formed those pillars of self care. The
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physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being and how it's
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all integrated in us as a whole person, that we are not
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these individual parts, that we are a whole person and they are all integrated and
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interconnected and it's necessary for building that firm
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foundation. And then in the third episode of the series
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we talked about the plan and this is where I introduce you to that
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care framework. Check in action
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plan, renew, evaluate. Right. So checking
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in, seeing where you are, what do you need in that moment? Action plan is
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all about figuring out what it is that you're going to do, what is
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the thing that's going to help you, what is the self care action
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that you're Going to take renew is actually doing the darn thing.
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And then evaluate is really just seeing. Where are you now? Did
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that work? Are you still needing something else? What other care are you
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needing? Right, so this helped us really make self care both practical and
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sustainable. And then in last week's episode we talk about
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the idea of discovery. How caring for ourselves creates
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clarity for us to be able to hear God's voice and uncover who
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he created us to be. And so in this episode we're seeing how all of
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this comes together not as an in itself, but
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as preparation for this mission. That
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self care in the form of stewardship
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is for mission. Scripture tells us in Ephesians
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chapter 2, verse 10 that you were God's masterpiece, created in
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Christ Jesus for good works. This means that your
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life and my life, they're not random, that God created us with
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a special purpose. Each one of us has a unique
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mission, a unique call to sanctity. And so self care
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isn't about indulging ourselves, it's really about caring for
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the vessel that we are, that God wants to work
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through. And so when we steward our health, when we steward
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our energy, our emotions, our spiritual life, we are giving
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our fiat, right? We're saying, yes Lord, I am ready,
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use me, your servant is listening. And so if
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we kind of zoom out and we think about life without this Christ
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centered self care, it's very much living in that survival mode
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of being burned out, resentful of responsibilities,
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missing opportunity to serve because we're running on empty,
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our light grows dim. But when we really
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embody this Christ centered self care and we bring all these
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pieces together, it's really that life approach to stewardship.
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And then we're checking in with our needs. We're learning to create rhythms
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of renewal and rest and inviting Christ into every part of
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our wellness so he can make it holy and divine.
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We have the energy that we need for our families, for our communities.
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We have clarity in our decisions and this peace that
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just overflows. Our light shines not
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because of us, but because, but because we've created space for Christ
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to shine through us. And so that
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foundation that we talked about, it reminds us of why we
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practice self care. We care for ourselves because our dignity
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comes from God. Our pillars remind us
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what we are taking care of. Our physical, mental, emotional and
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spiritual care are all integrated and necessary.
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Our came our care framework shows us the how
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those practical steps we can use both daily and long term
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discovery reminds us of who that we find our identity
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and our vocation in Christ and our mission
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reminds us of where this all leads to loving God and our
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neighbor with fullness and joy. It's really this complete
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picture we have self care and stewardship which leads us
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into that discovery and that mission.
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So I hope this whole series has really been more than just
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wellness tips for you, but it's really about remembering that you are
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God's beloved creation entrusted with a mission that only you
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can fulfill and that Christ centered self care
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allows you to prepare for that mission. That when you steward
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your body, your mind, your soul with Christ at the center, you're not
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just caring for yourself but you're preparing to bear that freedom fruit that
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lasts. So if you'd like help creating this Christ
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centered self care plan that's going to support both your well being
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and your calling, I'd love to take that walk with you.
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Simply send me an email@karaharatrochta.com
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and we can set up this self care planning session where we spend
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an hour just talking about what Christ centered self care is going to look
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like in your life. Because God needs you to
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embrace your unique identity to care for
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the unique mind, body and soul that you are so you can live that
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mission. Because your mission is more important than ever.
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Remember, beauty held is the seed, beauty shared is the flower.
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It is your time to bloom. As always, I thank
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you so much for spending this time with me. I will be right
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back here here next week and we are going to
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move into our next topic which I think
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is going to be all about cravings and
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learning how to trust ourselves around food.
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Especially as we're getting into candy season
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with Halloween right around the corner and then those holidays.
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So I hope you will join me next week as we embark on
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that journey. But remember you are
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beautifully and wonderfully made. I hope you have
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a beautiful and blessed week. Go take care of yourself in a Christ
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centered way and you will experience so much freedom and renewal
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and fulfillment. Until then, we'll talk soon.
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Bye.