Hey, YOU!
So… have you ever done something that you didn’t realize was REALLY REALLY good for you — until you STOPPED doing it?
Well, that’s been me over the past 3-4 weeks…
With my recent unexpected travels, and enjoying the excitement of a new relationship… I inadvertently let some of my FAVORITE routines slide.
(And boy, have I felt the effects.)
So what better way to inspire you AND me to (re-)establish self-nourishing activities –– than to share one of my hands-down FAVORITE rituals?!
But just so you know: I’m not naturally a “Routine Girl”. (Understatement). So needless to say, routines have been the HARDEST things for me to wrap my head for most of my adult life.
(So don’t beat yourself up if you struggle with this, too!)
But a Spiritual Mentor told me many moons ago:
“Stephanie, you will always need creative flow throughout the day – but you MUST create ‘bookends’ to your days, in order to thrive…”
And boy, was she right.
I’ve come to understand over many years (and many struggles!) that having a solid morning AND evening routine are often KEY for us soulful, mission-filled women.
…It’s like having a beautiful container to HOLD your most-Unstoppable life!
So aside from my recent “lapse”, I’ve been exploring, studying and developing my own evening routine for awhile now –– and it’s made a WORLD of difference.
(I’ll share others later – but this one has been a GEM.)
And here’s how it goes:
MY 3-STEP EVENING ROUTINE
Every day, after wrapping up my work, I grab my journal and a pen… and get myself comfy.
At the top of the page, I write the day and the date — and begin to answer the following 3 questions:
1.SUCCESSES = What went well today?
This is where I list EVERYTHING I accomplished throughout the day– racking my brain for even the most MINUSCULE activities, tasks or positive states of mind!
Even if you’re in a massive funk or feeling unproductive, simply find ANYTHING that could be considered an accomplishment:
- Did you wake up?
- Did you brush your teeth?
- Did you make a phone call?
- Did you eat an apple?
- Did you take out the trash?
- Did you go to work?
- Did you start (or even think about) a task on your to-do list?
…Anything and EVERYTHING counts!!!!
(Heck, sometimes just writing THIS list is one of my daily “Successes”…)
This is a time to practice self-adoration, and boost your self-confidence — no matter how big, or how small… So try to ENJOY this process!
If you can, put a smile on your face — and really APPRECIATE yourself for how well you’ve done that day: basking in your list as much as possible.
Just making it through another 24 hours as a human is pretty darn spectacular, in my book! So get started building that self-loving, positivity muscle – as you make an exhaustive inventory of your own Awesome-Saucery…
2. CHALLENGES = What didn’t go as planned?
This is where I write down anything that didn’t go as I’d hoped, or that I’d love to do differently in the future.
So scan your day: What are all the things that you’d love to tweak?
Did you:
- get up late (or go to bed late)?
- snap at your spouse?
- stress-eat your way through the afternoon?
- not work on that uber-important project?
- exercise late in the day, when you were shooting for the A.M. hours?
- waste time on Facebook, YouTube, or other social-media quicksand?
IMPORTANT: This exercise is NOT about beating yourself up, or feeling badly, or adding to your stress!!!!!!!!
(If that’s the case: SKIP #2 and #3 below! NOTHING is worth you adding any more burden onto your back…)
…This is solely about RADICAL SELF-LOVE –– and living with EYES-WIDE-OPEN!
This is about studying yourself NEUTRALLY – like a curious scientist searching for fascinating facts!
Because if you don’t have awareness of what’s going on in your life, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to ever access the root cause, or make strategic changes –– in order to feel relief!
3. POSSIBILITIES = What changes, fresh ideas or new perspectives can you find for your current “challenges”?
To begin, select the MOST NEGATIVELY-IMPACTFUL item from #2’s “Challenge” list, and write it down.
Then below it, brainstorm as many ideas as possible that could help you shift this situation.
How you could do things differently? What could you add, or subtract to turn this around?
Try to write down several ideas — to help you to see AND consider other alternatives (even if you don’t use them right away).
The more you think about new, fresh solutions – the more likely you’ll be over time to actually begin to IMPLEMENT these changes:
…HOOOOOORAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then, as time allows, continue brainstorming your way through the rest of your other “Challenges”.
Here’s an actual example of a more extensive brain-dump from my own journal (but even just 1 new idea for each “Challenge” can be extremely helpful):
*If you don’t have much time, do the best you can: Either only explore your MOST urgent challenges (in as much depth as you have time), or only list an idea or two for each one. (It’s more important that you DO this exercise by making it fit your schedule — than to turn it into a time-sucking MONSTER that you avoid like the plague!)
PS: You may also want to dig even DEEPER into any of your recurring challenges — by ALSO taking time to journal, or do some soulful-exploring, to process whatever has been lurking under the surface… Because the more you nurture your inner self… the more the OUTER world reflects that work back to you.
This 3-Step Ritual has been a POWERFUL one for me — helping me to make small, important baby-steps over time.
And while I usually follow these 3 steps up other simple, soul-nurturing habits I love –– these 3 Questions are the key foundation to my evening routine: setting me up for more and more personal, financial and spiritual success, each and every day.
Because here’s the deal-e-o, my friend:
Most of us are walking through life on AUTOPILOT.
And usually we are doing the SAME things (and making the same goofs) day in, and day out.
With little-to-no REAL awareness.
So this is an easy exercise to shake you out of your stuck spots — by forcing your brain to build new neural pathways of POSSIBILITIES!That way, over time, you naturally begin to steer your brain, and your life, in new positive directions.
Even if you don’t see changes right away… NO WORRIES! –– Over time, your mind will slowly begin to see your challenges in a whole new light. And even if you only make small shifts now and then, that WILL tally up to some pretty big, impressive changes over time…
REMEMBER: Slow and steady wins the race…
And as always: Feel free to come up with your own ideas, change things around, or add bits into your current evening routine…
I hope this inspired you to think about the SACRED way you honor, and end, each of your precious days here on Earth…
Got your own great evening routine practice? Share your awesome ideas, too by sharing on the blog: XXXXXXXXXXXXX –– or just reply to this email! I’d LOVE to hear…
Big love till next week, Hot-Stuff!
XOXOXO
