I wasn’t sure what topic to discuss with you this month, February is often the ‘Relationships’ month due to Valentine’s day, but that felt a bit contrived. So, I asked my tarot cards to give me some insight and the answer came back loud & clear! “Talk about daily rituals”, which you might prefer to call your spiritual practice, wellbeing routines or healthy habits. It’s the perfect time to remind us all how supportive and nourishing daily rituals can be, I know they have been essential to my lockdown survival.

There has been a huge amount written on the importance of a morning ritual. I am a morning person therefore the majority of my daily rituals are focused in the morning. I do also have midday rituals and evening rituals too. Bookending the day is another much recommended method; start your day with a simple routine and end it with another simple routine.

Why bother?

Good question. Hal Elrod has written a brilliant book called Miracle Morning which I highly recommend if you are interested to dig deeper into this subject. Hal suggests that how you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Success can be equated to whatever is important to you, such as your general wellbeing, your energy levels, your productivity, your parenting etc. By doing a number or spiritual practices or completing healthy habits each morning you consciously and actively set the tone for the day, you become the author of your day and therefore your life. You are not allowing yourself to be swept hither and thither like a leaf in the wind, you are putting a stake in the ground from which to create the experience you want.

Why is this even more essential during the pandemic?

Our healthy habits act to support us mentally, physically and emotionally. Stress levels are high at the moment and we could use all the help we can get. Think of the daily rituals as tools for you to use to feel better, clear your mind, get stronger, build resilience…the list goes on. I have found my daily rituals to be essential to maintain my mental and physical health during the lockdowns, there is so much chaos in the world that my own daily life needs structure, purpose and self-care in order to function at my best.

Some ideas of daily rituals for you to try out:

• Meditation
• EFT/ Tapping
• Prayer
• Breath work
• Chanting
• Yoga
• Exercise
• Running
• Journaling
• Epsom salt baths
• Acupressure mat
• Self-oil massage – my personal fave is using rose oil on my feet before bed – bliss!
• Affirmations
• Reading

Tips on getting started

Please promise me you will start small, pick a couple of new habits and integrate them into your days and weeks. After a while, when you feel you are managing well, add more rituals or extend the time allocated. Check in weekly and monthly – what you need will change, during the pandemic what you need will change more often. Change your daily rituals to support yourself depending on your current needs.

Real talk

I want to make it brutally clear that I am not perfect, I am doing very well with my routines at the moment, but in the not too distant past my morning routine was a cigarette before breakfast and evening rituals included beer or wine nearly everyday. Smoking and drinking everyday are not in alignment with my lifestyle goals (no judgement on anyone else’s lifestyle choices) so I didn’t feel great about myself. I share this because there is nothing more annoying than preachy information on how to live better, especially if you find yourself in a tricky spot. There are times, for example when we are in survival mode, when sticking to daily rituals is nigh impossible and if that’s where you are feel free to metaphorically tear up this information and throw it away. Rituals are there to help you when it works for you, they are not meant to make you feel bad for not doing them at all, enough or as much as X social media influencer – I think you get my drift.

That said, I am sending much love and if you’d like help to apply these concepts to your own life, but aren’t quite sure how, get in touch.

Gemma xx