We are Stardust – Here’s why that’s important

~6 min read

This article, somewhat circuitously enough, is about self-care. But we’re going to present a more cosmically significant motivation for the practice.

We’ve all heard the standard lines of how to practice self-care in our daily lives – drink more water, exercise regularly, limit caffeine, do some yoga. Companies that are desperate to plug the sieve of its employees’ mental health offer these as suggestions (while still suggesting we quickly get back to work). Sure, these are all excellent ways to be intentional with a regimen of self-care. But without a compelling reason why to continuously partake in self-care, it often falls in the “nice to do” category when there’s time. With the breakneck speed of work and life, sometimes a more profound and cosmic perspective is needed to create the time and space.

Most of us live within a culture that relentlessly values production. Above all, it values a constant unending production of things (goods, services – output of some sort), ideally increasing in yield forever and ever. Amen. Yes, I’m taking about capitalism. Instead, this is a cosmic perspective in consideration of slowing down, resting often, and taking care of yourself in a culture that values you doing the opposite.

Cosmic Self-Care

So, here it is. Every atom in your body was forged in the heart of a dying star. For nearly 14 billion years, stars collapsed and exploded out into the universe, spewing material across interstellar space. These massive ancient stars burned so hot that they created brand new elements. Their powerful supernova explosions flung these elements across the universe. Through galactic chemical evolution, this stardust eventually formed the constituent elements of Earth, including every atom in your body. You are walking, talking stardust incarnate. The odds of you being here in your body with your unique consciousness at this moment in time border on incalculable.

What does this have to do with self-care? This is a cosmic perspective of ourselves and of the interstellar journey of the very elements of our bodies across the Cosmos. This perspective is meant to highlight the staggering odds of us simply being here, alive on this planet, living together and sharing space at this moment in time. It also hopefully adds sobering depth to the importance of the following questions:

• Are you doing okay?
• Are you taking time to rest and care for yourself?

This is the fundamental basis of self-care, and it is sorely needed in today’s social and workplace landscapes. Within a culture that values unending and increasing productivity, we have to make the conscious choice to slow down and rest. To pay homage to the infinitesimal odds of us being here. To hold reverence for the interstellar journey of the stardust that makes up all life on this planet. To relish the cosmically brief time we get to be here.

As novelist Paulo Coelho wrote, “We are travellers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment.”

Enjoy the View

If you spend your life sprinting down the conveyor belt of our society’s productivity trap, you’ll get to the end faster. Or it may just seem faster – it’s all relative anyway. We’ll all get to our final destination sure enough; there is no life without death. But why sprint when you can stroll? Why rush when you can rest, sit down, and enjoy the view?

There is no better way to emphasize the importance of taking care of yourself without bringing it back to the stardust in your veins. If we all focus on self-care, we’ll eventually have the bandwidth to look after each other. This eventually becomes community-care. Reject the idea that your worth or value lies in your output. We are all inherently worthy of self-care, consideration, and rest simply for being here against all imaginable odds. Absolutely nothing in nature blooms year-round.

So, take that break – you deserve it just for being here. But more than that, take care of your body. Take care of your mind. Slow down, rest when you need it, and protect your time like it’s the most precious commodity in the entire universe – because it just might be.