Daily Rituals that Keep Me Happy

Daily rituals are things you do that keep you focused, happy and balanced. I like to wake up early (wow I never would have imagined I would be saying this in my life) before my kids get up and come downstairs, turn on the coffee maker, light an incense, turn on my Himalayan salt lamp and meditate for 5 to 10 minutes. Typically during my meditation I will spend about a minute of it saying out loud gratitude, positive affirmations, goals I will achieve, and things I want to manifest. The rest of my meditation is spent counting in my head to keep my mind from wandering, or humming 'om'. After my meditation is over I will stretch with some very sloppy yoga poses, maybe not actual poses but whatever feels good to my body. I say some more things out loud that I am thankful for like my health and energy and I then make my coffee and beginning the day. My other rituals are working out which happens later in the evening before dinner time. Working out really brings me much needed focus and peace after spending the last hours juggling working on building my business, listening to motivational videos or podcasts, learning new things, cleaning the house and taking care of my children. My workout time is very important to not only my physical but my mental well-being. The endorphins produced during my workout and the energy I get from it help me make it through the rest of the day with balance and ease. I have recently bought a massage foam roller and so I am hoping to incorporate that into my rituals. After my workout I enjoy taking a nice warm shower.

Family dinner is also very important to me. I prepare a healthy meal and we all sit down together and enjoy it together. This is another thing I am thankful for because I know not everyone gets to do this. My final daily rituals are going to bed with my fiance and 2 year old. I love to write down any ideas of thoughts that I have right before bed. Don't you hate when you lay there and have some brilliant ideas and go to sleep thinking you'll remember it in the morning but then you don't!? Yes that's happened to me so many times, who knows how many of my ideas are buried in the Graveyard for Unpursued Ideas. Note to Self: Keep a pen and paper by your bedside. Finally I like to read a bit from a self help book or educative literature. Oh and I also love falling asleep while listening to the sound of the rain so I have Alexa (the Amazon home 'thing') play rainstorm for 3 hours. Love that. 

What are some of your rituals? Do you have rituals? 

I've noticed that since I started having rituals in my life, I feel more balanced, but I don't think it's just from the rituals themselves I think it's because I do them everyday and I know what to expect. Sometimes in a busy life where everything is unpredictable, what you're going to eat, whats going to happen at work, what you're going to have for lunch, when you're going to have time to yourself, etc etc, its really nice having those rituals that you know are going to happen. I don't know if that makes sense. Plus being a stay at home mom trying to run a business single-handedly it is pretty awesome to have the first 2 to sometimes 3 hours all to myself.