Each of our main self-care spaces is designed for drop-in use, but you might be wondering how to get started! 

Rest isn't just about sleeping. Our bodies need to be able to return to a peaceful, calm state periodically through the day--often called the "rest and digest" response that our parasympathetic nervous system controls. We can activate this response in lots of different ways: taking a few deep breaths, sitting quietly with a cup of tea for 5 minutes, getting outside for a 10 minute walk, doodling, working a few more rows on a crochet project, or popping into the garden to weed. Any activity that helps your body get to a place of feeling safe and relaxed. 

If rest doesn't actually require a lot of time and is great for both our mental and physical health, why do we find it so hard? The big picture answer is that the systems we live in aren't built to support rest, but the particulars of how this plays out are different for everyone. 

Maybe you have young children and this season of life is so all-consuming it's hard to carve out pockets of time for yourself. Maybe your finances are tight and the stress of constantly monitoring what you can afford makes it hard for your body to feel safe and relaxed. Maybe you feel guilty sitting down and "wasting time". Maybe you actually don't know what helps your body feel safe and relaxed. Maybe your thoughts get really busy every time you slow down and that's uncomfortable. 

These are all real barriers. And yet. Your health and well-being are so valuable and vital that you deserve to prioritize your rest. It might take a lot of courage, or a lot of re-parenting or changing the narratives and patterns you're used to. It might mean asking for more help, which is undoubtedly hard. In the long run, though, it's worth it! 

What's your biggest barrier and how would you like to begin practicing rest more often?

These three words are at the heart of what I want to create here at My Inner Harbour: a well-rested, thoughtful and connected community. 

A community where members values themselves so lovingly that they prioritize their time to support their own rest, reflection and reconnection. 

Imagine the impact on mental, emotional and physical health! Imagine the ripple effect on the wider community!

Playdough? Paints? Dress-up and long imaginative games with your siblings? Fort building? "Cooking" with whatever ingredients you could find in the backyard? 

My sister and I were definitely in the dress-up and imaginative games category. We wrote plays and performed them for our parents regularly, roping in our little brother and neighbour friends as needed. 

Do you remember how it felt to make something just for fun? The concentration and energy, the thrill when it turned out the way you hoped, the frustration when it didn't. The determination to try again. 

Where do you experience this as an adult? Maybe you bake or crochet or make mandalas on the beach. Maybe you create fabulous theme parties for friends or are getting into ceramics. 

Tell us in the comments about your favourite forms of play - then and now! 

My Inner Harbour is a community self-care space. You might be wondering what that even means and how you would use it. 

Picture a gym, but for your mental and emotional wellness. At a gym, you can go and use equipment anytime for your own workouts or you can attend a scheduled fitness class. 

My Inner Harbour has four different rooms (Body, Mind, Spirit & Community) with a variety of materials and prompts that you can use anytime to engage in meaningful mental, emotional and social self-care. We also host regular events if facilitated self-care works better for you. 

Just like having a gym membership can make it easier to actually take care of your physical health, my hope is that My Inner Harbour will make it easier for members to actually care for their mental, emotional and social health. 

And you can use it just like a gym! Schedule it into your day. Come first thing in the morning while your baby is between naps, on your lunch break, while you're out running errands or right after work. Figure out what frequency works for you: 1x a week or 3x a week. Come for a quick 15 minute "workout" or plan to meet up with friends for a longer session on the evenings we're open late (Mondays and Tuesdays we're here until 9pm). 

Gym memberships can help keep us accountable and can provide inspiration. As a therapist, so many of my clients knew that self-care was essential to their mental health, but also felt really alone in their journeys. When we see others doing their inner work, it can give us energy to keep doing our own. 

Come and get a free tour anytime! We'd love to show you around.

There's some really good research out there on the importance of connection to both our physical and emotional health. (Check out Barbara L. Fredrickson, John Gottman and Jeffrey Rediger's works.)

Connection doesn't have to be long or intense to benefit us. It doesn't even have to be with someone we know well, like a parent, spouse or friend. It could be as simple as giving someone in line next to you a compliment on their coat, asking your librarian what they read recently and loved, or being intentional about small kindnesses to others like holding the door open, smiling and greeting someone coming the other way on your walk, or letting a parent with small children go ahead of you in the grocery line up. 

Not only do these few minutes of connection benefit you, they also benefit the other person! 

Want to challenge yourself? Aim for 3 moments of connection a day and at the end of the day take a moment to reflect on how those interactions felt. Practice gratitude toward yourself for being intentional about moving toward health and happiness.

Can we talk about this logo for a minute? (Shout out to my dad, Mark Wiebe, for the gorgeous and thoughtful design! Find him on IG @coastscape).

Logos are a basic building block for any organization and I love the foundation this one lays for My Inner Harbour. I love the serenity of the full moon over the water, the playfulness of the colourful boats, the sense that everything is calm and quiet and tucked safely away. 

That's how I want My Inner Harbour to feel when you come in: serene, calm, quiet, and safe, with a hint of playfulness. 

Even the words underneath add to the harbour image. Boats come into dock, take down sails, turn off engines and rest. They reflect on what's needed: repairs? supplies? They reconnect with the land and then when they're ready they reconnect with open water. 

Harbours are essential for boats the same way self-care is essential for living beings. We all need time to rest, take stock and then return renewed and refreshed. 

My hope is that you find the tools and the supports that best help you come into harbour regularly and that by practicing regular rest, reflection and reconnection you find your mental and emotional wellness deepening.

I know typically New Year’s resolutions, intentions and goals are active things. Things we’d like to accomplish or participate in or do. I’d love to invite you to consider being intentional about rest this year! 

Rest not only allows our bodies to heal and function more effectively, it also creates mental and emotional space for us to consider what is most meaningful in our lives and where we’d like to put our time and energy. 

Is resting easy for you? What are the barriers that prevent you from resting? How do you like to rest when you get the chance? Who do you know who rests well? What’s one easy, first step you could take to prioritize rest?

It's often easy to feel like winter is a write-off. It's dark and cold. The holidays are overly-consumerist or overly religious or overly complicated. It can feel like there's no middle ground between "it's the most wonderful time of the year" and seasonal depression.

And yet. I think it's worth considering what gifts winter might have for each of us. We all need different things in different seasons. What are the ways that winter might be able to care for you? What practices or mindset shifts might help you make the most of the dark? 

As a poet at heart, metaphors are my lifeblood. I love the many different winter and holiday stories and symbols we find in traditions all over the world. I love the active practice of hope that decorating or singing together or lighting a candle can be. I love the promise of the return of the light, while knowing that the dark, too, is essential to our well-being. 

Do I love every rainy day and dark morning? No, but I do love the story winter is telling me about rest and patient waiting, about all the unseen things that happen in the dark so that the earth can bloom again in a few short months. 

What story do you want winter to tell? What gifts might winter have to offer you? 

Pretend for a minute that your body is your best friend and you want to get her/them/him a gift for the holidays. What are her likes and dislikes? What's always on their wishlist? What have you noticed he needs lately? 

Thinking about our bodies as a real person versus an "it" can change so much about how we approach ourselves. 

Intrigued about shifting your perception of your body and cultivating a friendship with her/them/him? Check out Hillary McBride's books "The Wisdom of Your Body" and "Practices for Embodied Living". We have both here at My Inner Harbour!