self-care https://life108.net Create & Resonate Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:46:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.4 137601391 Morning Self-love Ritual – the Ultimate Start of Your Day. https://life108.net/2020/05/27/morning-self-love-ritual-the-ultimate-start-of-your-day/ https://life108.net/2020/05/27/morning-self-love-ritual-the-ultimate-start-of-your-day/#respond Wed, 27 May 2020 13:10:07 +0000 http://life108.net/?p=3207 Let’s just be honest; it’s not always the easiest thing to take time out to show yourself some love. There’s […]

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Let’s just be honest; it’s not always the easiest thing to take time out to show yourself some love. There’s a bunch of different things all competing for your attention and your time, and we often usually put ourselves, and self-love, at the very bottom of our To-Do List. Starting a morning self-love ritual is a powerful way to invite more self-love into your day.

Here are a few things that you can add to your morning self-love ritual:

Wake up gentle and slow.

Set your alarm clock to go off a few minutes before your usual wake up time. Choose a ringtone that is gentle and calm with some soothing sounds, but that would still be loud enough to wake you up. There’s nothing as shocking and unsettling as waking up to the sound of an alarm or even a digital rooster crowing. Yes, yes, real roosters out in nature are not the same.

Take some time as you wake up to slowly take in your surroundings, become aware of your body in the physical space, look at how the sunlight plays through the leaves against the curtains or the window. Take some time to experience this new morning. Connect with yourself or your partner, your cats, or your dog. Soak up some self-love as part of your morning self-love ritual.

Start your morning by slowly, quietly, and calmly being present.

Wait about an hour before you engage with digital devices.

We are constantly attached to our phones and digital devices. It’s almost as if they have become an extension of ourselves, and we feel a little bit lost without them. It’s natural to have the impulse to want to check your phone, your messages, or your emails as you wake up. Give yourself some space and some time where you don’t need to engage with the rush, or the stress, or with work.

Take about an hour if possible to focus on what you’re doing whether you’re making coffee or breakfast or having a chat with your child or your husband or wife do you serve free from distractions of your phone or any other digital device. Self-love comes through spending conscious time with yourself and your surroundings.

Nourish your body.

Loving yourself means loving your body and taking care of it. Here I can throw in a cliche like ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ or something like that. The truth is your body has fasted for around 8 hours. Take some time to break the fast, drink some water to hydrate and give your body a nutritious meal so that it can have the energy to power you through the day.

Avoid being distracted by devices or thoughts of what needs to be done that day try and engage in conscious eating and paying attention and being present. Practice self-love through nourishing your body as part of your morning self-love ritual.

Nourish your mind.

Your mind is mighty. Your thoughts literally create the world around you – ask the quantum physicists even. That is why it’s so essential that you need to take care of your mind. That you need to nourish it. That you need to put all kinds of good things into it. By taking the time out to feed your mind every morning, you can become empowered. You can start to gain control over your mind, your thoughts, and your life.

You can become a powerful Co-creator of your life. Now, don’t let me hear you coming up with an excuse like you don’t have time. This is how you create your life, and five or 10 minutes every morning is absolutely worth it to bring in the changes that you’ve wanted for so long.

Good ways to nourish or expand your mind is to do some yoga or meditate you can write a gratitude list you can spend time focusing on affirmations or intentions. Get in touch with that powerful tool that you have at your disposal.

Stay present.

You might have noticed by now that all four previous points have one thing in common – and that is to cultivate presence. How do you start your day is often an indication of how the rest of your day will go. If you started off rushed and hurried and disconnected, the chances are that’s what you’re going to experience for the entire day.

You’ll probably not pay as close attention to things. It will likely feel like everything is going wrong and that you just cannot catch up to the present moment. So start your day off with being present. With being connected with your mind, your soul, your body, and your surroundings. Take the time out to be quiet. To start your day with consciousness and awareness. Make it a part of your morning self-love ritual and watch it gather momentum throughout your day.

Self-love is a difficult practice to do regularly. It’s easier to make excuses, to avoid it because we feel guilty for taking time for ourselves. The thing is, without taking time for yourself, you engage in the world in a disconnected way, in a way that is not always authentically you. And the world deserves the authentic you. They deserve to experience the uniqueness of your soul, the valuable gifts you bring to every day… to every interaction… to every moment.

Take some time out to cultivate the love relationship you have with yourself in order to grow that love and to expand that love. Because the more love you have in yourself, the more you will have to give and to share with others.

Morning self-love infographic

Find out how you can increase your self-love through Remembering Your Worth.

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The moment I started realising my worth my life changed. https://life108.net/2019/05/17/the-moment-i-started-realising-my-worth-my-life-changed/ https://life108.net/2019/05/17/the-moment-i-started-realising-my-worth-my-life-changed/#respond Fri, 17 May 2019 08:59:53 +0000 http://life108.net/?p=2210 I’m sitting here scrolling through my memories on Facebook. Sometimes it makes me happy, sometimes it makes me sad and […]

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I’m sitting here scrolling through my memories on Facebook. Sometimes it makes me happy, sometimes it makes me sad and depressed. For a while I had stopped even opening them because it either represented forgotten friendships or people that I have lost, or… a visual reminder of all the most difficult times that I had gone through, neatly packaged into a stream of memes and quotes.

But it also gives me a sneak peek into my growth. I look at something I posted… I look at the date… I say ‘Ohhhh…that was when…” Most of the times that sentence ends with ‘I was hurting/struggling from or with something’.

The last day of May 2016 was the day that tore my soul apart. It broke me… Actually, it didn’t even break me. It completely erased me. All I was, was just empty. Nothing. It left me wondering whether I would ever be able to feel again. Hope again. Love again.

So I spent a year working on me. Sitting alone in the darkness of my room and my soul. Feeling unloved… feeling unlovable. And I healed… And I hurt… and I grew… and I clawed myself out of the dark and into the light.

I spent a year working on me

I worked and worked – good lord I did all the hard work. And I felt like with every step forward I kept moving leagues back. But I kept at it. I kept persisting. Because in the moment that you have nothing, there is nothing to lose. Slowly, painfully I started to look at all the broken bits of me. At my insecurities and my flaws. At every limiting thought and believe that was holding me back. I looked them straight in the eyes – often shaking with fear. And I kept staring.

I felt like with every step forward I kept moving leagues back

Until I felt it soften. Until I was able to envelope every barbed bit of me in love. And then I got cut some more. It is difficult to love the sharp, splintered bits of the human that is you.

But… I had nothing… and nothing to lose. So I sat with the pain. And I grew. And I got stronger. And slowly I started to change. I started to embrace me. Every dark and sharp and brittle and broken bit of me. I infused it with gentleness and love. I soaked it until self-adoration dripped off of my shattered edges like blood off the tip of a sword.

Slowly I started to change

I was at war. One part of me shouting that I am not worth it, that I do not deserve to be happy, to be loved… while the other quietly whispered… ‘But dear Woman, you are’. And slowly the whisper grew louder than the shout. Day by day… moment by moment. The knowing grew. That I am worthy. That I am enough. Even with all my broken bits, with my cracks and dents, bruises and bumps.

This person, this soul is Enough.

This person, this soul is Enough

The moment I started realising my worth my life changed. I fully loved myself, and within a month found someone who loves me, who accepts me, and who pushes me to heal even more. Today I see my posts on facebook from two years ago. And they show me the exact moment that I started Remembering my worth. I feel the change in the energy of the me from the past. And I cheer her on. I celebrate her. And I encourage her.

The moment I started realising my worth my life changed.

Because I know what she has been through. And I know what the me of this present moment has been through. Somewhere, for a moment, a minute, a month, I let myself forget.

I had put my head down and got caught up, and the ‘knowing’ my worth became a ‘guessing’ my worth. And really, that just wasn’t enough.

Somewhere, for a moment, a minute, a month, I let myself forget.

I have been feeling a massive shift in the last few days, and as if in an instant I was reminded of my worth. Of what I deserve. Of who I am and why I am here. That I am a beautiful, empowered, confident, created being who manifested myself into this life.

I can feel the changes in the air, the water, the earth and the fire. Are you ready to join the shift?

What pushed you to Remember your worth? Tell us in the comments below.

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Why do people always leave me? https://life108.net/2019/01/18/why-do-people-always-leave-me/ https://life108.net/2019/01/18/why-do-people-always-leave-me/#respond Fri, 18 Jan 2019 11:49:22 +0000 http://life108.net/?p=1254 New Year’s Eve 3 years ago I was sitting on a beach in Zanzibar. Everyone around me was in a […]

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New Year’s Eve 3 years ago I was sitting on a beach in Zanzibar. Everyone around me was in a festive mood, having a great time. There was a bon fire and everyone was in a wonderful mood, ready to welcome in the New Year… And I was sitting among them with tears streaming down my cheeks, heart-broken once again. 

I remember saying to a friend that everyone keeps leaving me- what is the point of living in love if everyone keeps leaving me? My friend kept trying to pull me out of the dark hole that I dug for myself while I had no interest in hearing her. I continued to rattle off all the people who promised to love me- and then left me.

My best friend who passed away, the guy who broke up with me on new year’s eve while we were on a road trip with all his friends a few years before (I obviously have some bad karma with the date), the many men who promised me their hearts… until they made it into my bed and then found me wanting… The male best friends who pursued my love until they got it , only to change their minds…

Somehow I was always left behind… left feeling like I wasn’t enough.

After sitting and watching me wallow in my not-enoughness my friend eventually gave up and said: “Jay, I cannot be around this negativity anymore”, got up and left me. Those 8 words were the first sparks that led to a huge moment of enlightenment for me. In the next few days, as I recovered from a hang-over and a broken heart her words started resonating louder and louder. I started to realise more and more how negative I had become. How every thought of mine was laced with venomous self-doubt… Self-disgust even. How I managed to find every little thing to complain about all the while living a beautiful life… New Year’s Eve on Zanzibar for goodness’ sakes!!

I embarked on a journey that has slowly transformed my life. Often it felt like as I took one step forward the tides of life pushed me two leaps back. I was moving against the current of my own negative conditioning, always seeing the worst in everything. The harder I pushed to become a more positive person, the louder the negative thoughts were shouting in my head. At times I sank into a deep depression, wondering what the point of it all was.

Once I stopped pushing against the current and went along with the flow of life things started to change. Life started teaching me about self-love, self-care and self-worth. I started becoming more assertive, setting and enforcing boundaries and, with time, I became more empowered. Above all this journey has brought me to my core. I started getting to know me and learned to love every bit of me- even the yucky bits that I never wanted to acknowledge even to myself.

I learned to be grateful for my life, for what I had, the people around me and the situations I found myself in- even when they were not ideal or how I wanted it to be.By becoming grateful I became more positive, my ego (and negative thoughts) started to speak softer and softer until it eventually became only a whisper.  Take a look at these amazing gratitude journals! 

It made me realise that as I stand- in every moment of doubt, of shame, of guilt, of depression, of uncertainty, of failure – I am enough.

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Sign up below for my free self-worth mini course.

Or click on the button for information on the full Remembering your worth e-course in order to find out how I managed to transform myself from someone who couldn’t find one thing that she loved about herself to an empowered, confident woman who has re-membered her worth and refuses to let anyone convince her of anything less – and how you can do it too!

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