Self-Care

I frequently wake up in the morning with a feeling of dread, in part due to my own anxiety disorder and in part due to these stressful, chaotic times. To get past the anxiety to a feeling of love and well being I begin the day with a period of cardio exercise, using an exercise bike. I begin by feeling and releasing the anxiety and finally, by the end of the exercise, feeling peace and love. I think of the words of St. John of the Cross "He should learn to remain in God’s presence with a loving attention and a tranquil intellect", even though this seems like idleness to him. Soon he will find little by little that a "divine calm and peace with a wondrous, sublime knowledge of God, enveloped in divine love, will be infused into his soul".