Your daily habits and routines are far more critical and impactful than you may think.
One of the biggest complaints or misalignments I hear is that many women feel stuck in their lives and they're simply not where they want to be.
They feel uninspired,
Off-balanced,
And certainly not peaceful.
Yet when I ask them to walk me through their day-to-day life,
We can often root out that they are simply not engaging in their lives in a way that is fulfilling or nurturing their rounded well-being.
They have shifted into autopilot and lack a framework that helps them engage in balance,
Inspiration,
And peace.
That's something that all of us so deeply desire and deserve.
Regular Get Your Life Together Girl listener Fatima in Boston,
Massachusetts wrote in and said,
Culturally,
I grew up with the majority of thought processes and teachings that I hear you speak about.
Yet,
After my family and I came to the United States from India,
I found it harder to live these principles.
Life is faster here,
And I find it hard to slow down.
I want to return to the piece you write about in your post and I see within you as you speak.
The piece that I have known before,
But I have somehow lost.
Do you have any daily practices or rituals that you use in your day-to-day life?
If so,
Could you share?
I guess I'm asking for an inside look into your life.
What helps you be peaceful?
First,
I will say,
Peace is never lost.
It may feel like it is,
But sometimes it lies in wait until we're ready to meet it again.
And of course,
I'm always willing to share any practice that I use in my daily life because really they are the combinations of everything I teach and really hand over in session or on the podcast or any place that I show up.
So yes,
Life is fast.
It is hard.
It is hard to slow down.
But once you create a framework for yourself,
Practice it and hold yourself accountable to it,
Peace becomes second nature.
That is the biggest thing,
Right?
Peace lies within you.
It can always be still,
But you have to practice the art of peace.
Is it perfect?
No.
There are days that,
You know,
Start one way and end another.
That always happens.
But if you have a framework built into your life for your life,
For your day,
For that individual 24 hours,
You have the power to create the peace you desire.
You asked about my rituals and I'm happy to walk you through them.
If anything stands out,
I invite you to bring them into your existing practice or try them for the very first time.
However,
I will caution you.
This is how I start my day.
It's a bit extra.
There's no expectation that anyone has to adopt all of these things and make them work for you.
So first things first,
When I open my eyes,
I have trained my mind to offer gratitude for doing so.
Before I reach for my watch or my phone,
I offer three small gratitudes.
When we guide our mind into what is working for us,
We immediately set the tone for how we will approach the day.
If you roll over and slap the alarm and dread the day,
You've guided your mindset into that framework.
So for me,
I start with gratitude and it takes less than one minute.
So if that's the only thing you pick up from this time together,
Let it be that one minute of gratitude really can shift your tone.
I will quickly add in another practice if I've had a rough night's sleep or the previous day was trying and I just need a little bit more.
And that practice is to place my hand over my heart and say,
I love you,
Danielle.
Doing your very best is all that is expected and required.
Of course,
Change your name and whatever sentence you would like after the I love you.
This is a beautiful way to connect with the self,
Offer self reassurance.
And that,
Of course,
Builds peace,
Self-esteem,
Self-love and confidence.
From there,
I get out of bed and head straight for the kitchen.
Coffee is an absolute for me.
But first,
I drink at least eight ounces of water.
Rehydrating your system is a must.
There is a huge connection between dehydration and mental fog.
When we feel off,
We cannot find our center.
So I begin with water before anything else.
And without water and coffee in hand,
I head to my meditation space.
I have a dedicated space in my home that is strictly for meditation,
Journaling,
Self-reiki,
Prayer,
All of the practices.
It's a space of calm for me because I have been engaging with this habit for so long that the minute I enter the room,
I can really feel my breath change.
Once seated,
The first thing I do is to set an intention for the day.
The intention can be set through a framework of whatever is for my highest,
Greatest good,
Or it can be more detailed as to something I want to feel or accomplish that day.
Setting your intention is a powerful tool to help elevate your already positively directed mindset.
I always choose the words I am as the starting point,
Then add my intention.
And as a dear mentor of mine reminded me just recently,
You can always add the words or something better to the end.
Because sometimes our intentions are short-sighted.
Sometimes we know what we want,
But we haven't put full thought behind it in a way that allows us to form an active and energetic intention.
With the intention stated both aloud and written in my journal,
I turn to my breath.
Reiki and meditation are sacred practices for me.
Meditation has guided me through my personal story,
Emotions,
Release,
And has moved me into the person I am today.
It isn't easy work,
But it is worthy work.
I know that as I continue to practice,
It will also guide me into the person I am growing to be.
I love both practices so dearly and know what power they have that I elevated my personal certifications to become practitioners in both.
Because I've seen what they can do both in myself and the people that I've worked with.
And both are beautiful practices when it comes to peace creation.
If you're interested in Reiki,
You can find thousands of articles online.
It is a beautiful art.
As for meditation,
If you've never tried meditation or you are leery,
I invite you to listen to episode 67,
The Secret Behind Making Meditation Work For You.
In the episode,
I break down what meditation is,
Toss out the myths,
And we go to the basics.
And if you are like so many that I've worked with that say meditation doesn't work,
Well,
I double invite you to listen and work towards making a practice of progress,
Not a practice of perfection.
Both self-Reiki and meditation are set to the background of music that I find on Insight Timer.
If you don't have the Insight Timer app,
It is a must.
There are thousands of teachers on the app who have so many beautiful offerings,
Including yours truly.
When I am finished with those,
I begin to pick up my pen.
Journaling is the language of my soul.
My morning pages provide me with a space to write down anything that I have felt or may have uncovered while in Reiki or meditation.
It also allows me to speak my mind in a way that others do not have to hold for me.
And it gives me a true,
Clear understanding of where my mind is at that moment.
And that is available to you too.
So if none of the other practices speak to you,
Try gratitude and try journaling.
This doesn't have to be long or complicated.
It really is a simple way to meet yourself where you are in the moment in that day.
How am I feeling today is a fantastic journaling prompt that I invite you to try.
So many women will say,
Oh,
Yeah,
I used to journal and then I just kind of let it go.
Well,
Did you feel better when you were doing it?
Yeah,
Actually I did.
So if that's you,
I invite you to pick your pen back up.
So some days I don't need all of those practices or I simply can't fit them into the day because of the schedule.
So I intuitively allow myself to be guided into what I need.
But there are two practices I never release.
The first is meditation and the second is journaling.
This is where I find my most grounded peace.
That may be different for you,
But for me,
That's it.
As I start the day,
I focus on keeping my focus.
Admittedly,
I used to rush from one thing to the next.
There is a level of desperation in the rush.
Right.
And to be honest,
It really comes back to a lack mentality.
A lack mentality will always keep your peace and your happiness at arm's length.
I don't have enough time.
I don't have enough this.
That is a negative thought pattern.
Keeping my focus is all about intentional action.
And that's what I invite you to do,
Too.
This is one of the most basic and fundamental things that you can do for yourself beyond the practices of journaling or Reiki or,
You know,
Any of those things.
Being intentional comes back to the four questions I continually ask.
Number one,
What do I want?
Number two,
What do I need?
Number three,
How do I want to feel?
Number four,
How am I going to get there?
If you are struggling that day,
You can also ask,
Will I give myself permission to take action?
These things are the framework for my daily peace.
I regulate my nervous system and release anything less than what feels good.
That is peace.
That is center.
That is my balance.
And I really hope that gives you some tools and insight into how you can and must create a personal framework for yourself.
There's a beautiful shift that happens when you engage in your life,
When you make an effort,
When you take action,
When you be still.
And most importantly,
You take care of yourself on every level.
I will leave you with two questions.
The first is,
Are you fully engaging with your life?
Are you showing up?
The second is,
Is this because you don't have a framework in place?
Framework?
It can equal habit,
Right?
Do you have the habits of peace in your life?
Peace is as much a conscious effort as it is a subconscious movement.
Thank you so much for your question and the space to share my practices with you.
I challenge you to find your framework that helps you elevate and reset your mindset.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode,
Which originally aired on the Get Your Life Together Girl podcast.
Please take the time to review this conversation and follow me here on Insight Timer for more courses,
Meditations,
And additional conversations.
Until next time,
Be kind to yourself and others.
