The new year symbolizes a fresh start, and along with that come New Yearâs Resolutions, but the term resolution is often fleeting, and weâve become disconnected to the deeper meaning.
If you have read my books or followed my blog you probably know I donât encourage resolutions. Instead I teach the value of creating rituals. Creating a daily ritual or routine that focuses on the outcome you want will help fuel optimum health and help you achieve your goals this year!
Instead of making a resolution (which so many fail to keep), I encourage you to try something a little different this year in order to manifest true success over the next 12 months and in life. Ask yourself, what do you want to create in the world or who do you want to become? This may feel overwhelming to think about or answer, but itâs easy to get off track if you donât establish that first.
Without answering that question, digging deep and coming up with an honest answer that truly resonates with you, youâre likely to get off track, or maybe not even get on track in the first place!
When you donât know who you want to be in the world or what you are creating, it is easy to fall into activities or relationships that donât truly support and align with your highest intentions.
Answering that one question will save you time in the long run. Just slow down and tune into what it is that you truly want to create. Everything flows from that desired outcome.
Once youâve established what you want to create in the world or who you want to become, try these 4 rituals that will help you get there.
I journal daily, itâs an important ritual in my life that has supported so much personal growth. My journaling helps me set intentions for my life and my day, helps me work through my emotions and feelings, allows me to express gratitude, and so much more!
Writing things down makes them feel and be more concrete. It provides a whole new level of clarity. Your ideas become less vague and more defined. Youâve created something that now exists in the world, if only on a piece of paperâŚso far. Youâve given it some life, and that is a step forward. It also helps shift your focus throughout your day, and youâre more likely to become aware of opportunities. These opportunities are more easily missed if youâre only casually thinking about what you want rather than making it more concrete.
So, get excited about dreaming big, and voicing it, then write it down. A Dominican University in California study looked at hundreds of men and women of all ages and backgrounds and discovered among the groups, those who wrote down their goals and dreams on a regular basis were 42% more likely to achieve them. If youâre hoping to improve the chances of reaching them even further, share your written goals with a friend. One caveat, make sure itâs a friend who believes in your ability to succeed!
If you need any more reasons to write down your dreams and goals hereâs another -youâll have a better chance of remembering them. This may not seem important (why would you forget your goals and dreams), but itâs easy to forget what weâre working toward when we allow the messages and activities of our daily lives to override our thinking. When you write it down, youâre activating a new dimension of consciousness and focus in your subconscious mind.
Have you started a morning practice yet? Iâve been talking about and recommending a morning practice for years. Often our days can start out feeling frazzled and we can feel disconnected from ourselves.
If you wake and immediately check your phone, start reading emails, instantly start attending to otherâs needs, or begin thinking about the long checklist of things you have to do that day, youâll likely feel like youâre running behind before you even begin. Itâs hard to get into a good flow that way, where you feel like youâre starting your day focused and energized.
How you start anything influences the whole extent of it, and that is true for your entire day!
A morning practice can anchor you, and help you feel grounded rather than frazzled and chaotic. When I skip my morning routine my day feels more confused, muddled, and I experience dampened energy right from the start.
My morning practice has been a part of my daily ritual for years and when I stick to it, Iâve prepared myself to have an amazing day that allows me to be a present momma and to create away!
Youâll want to create a morning practice that works for you, donât try to force it but do plan for it.
I start my day by supporting my body. I drink hot water with lemon, take my Feel Good SBO Probiotics (because gut health is critical for your success on so many levels, including improved mood!) and drink my Glowing Green Smoothie. If you havenât tried my Glowing Green Smoothie (GGS for short), now is the time. It will give you an incredible amount of sustained energy, allowing you to tackle all of your dayâs activities and any stressors or hurdles that arise.
Related: Dos and Donâts of the Glowing Green Smoothie
My morning practice includes meditation and journaling. I like to meditate and see what comes through for me that day and how it informs my goals.
Once Iâm done meditating my ritual includes writing out my goals for the day (yep, I begin my day by writing out that dayâs goals). I donât put a strict time limit on it, but I do give myself several minutes each morning to center and ground myself and set my intention for the day. Writing down a few words, reinforces my intentions for the day.
I suggest you create a routine that works for you. It may look a little different than mine, but try to dedicate the first 30 minutes to an hour of your day to it, and be consistent. Itâs best when you make it a daily practice.
I was recently asked by a podcast listener which ritual would I never give up, my morning ritual or my nighttime ritual. And although itâs my morning ritual I canât live without, I definitely promote nighttime rituals for greater physical and emotional health. Nighttime rituals allow us to honor our sleep, and recognize that itâs an important opportunity to support and rejuvenate our mind and body.
Related: If youâre interested in more simple wellness rituals to add throughout your day you can listen to the full podcast episode.
A good nighttime routine establishes consistency with your sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene includes not only what you do, but also your sleep environment. When you create a consistent routine youâll begin to notice the positive effects it has on providing you with true beauty sleep.
To create a nighttime routine you can do something as simple as turning off electronic devices an hour or more before bedtime. Or at the very least, if you feel you canât give up your screen time completely before bed, wear blue light blocking glasses. Blue light blocking glasses will help prevent a delay in your bodyâs internal melatonin production. Melatonin is the âsleep hormoneâ. Itâs the hormone that helps you get drowsy and tells your body itâs time for bed, among other benefits.
I also highly recommend against eating before bedtime, especially if you want healthy glowing skin. True beauty sleep requires quality sleep. When you eat before bed, your body uses a tremendous amount of energy to digest the food youâve just eaten while youâre sleeping. So rather than repairing and rejuvenating your entire body, including your skin which is your bodyâs largest organ, itâs digesting that evening snack or meal.
Simple movement exercises are also great for preparing your body before bed, I do a few simply cat cow stretches before bed. And I usually take a few moments to breathe and be mindful before drifting off to sleep. It just seems to help me get into a calmer state of mind for better rest.
Also important is to create a comfortable sleep environment. You should feel good sleeping on your mattress and pillow, if theyâre old or donât support you properly anymore, consider swapping them out. A nice clean set of soft sheets does wonders for your rest too. I also like keeping my bedroom environment cool at night (it helps us get into deeper sleep) and run a quiet air filter in the room at night.
These are just a few ways you can honor the length, duration and quality of your sleep and is all part of a true beauty practice. I talk a lot about Sollunaâs Four Cornerstones of True Beauty. If you havenât read our true beauty guide yet, I highly encourage it. Itâs a great guide for helping you incorporate tools and activities ranging from food to body to emotional well-being to spiritual growth.
Download our Four Cornerstones Guide Now
Iâve written and spoken about this a lot throughout the years. I find many people focus on what theyâre missing, and work on filling in the gaps, rather than focusing on what they can do more holistically to support their overall vitality and wellness. I believe if you focus on supporting your bodyâs ability to do what itâs designed to do, you can achieve even greater levels of awareness and health.
Instead of taking dozens of supplements to fill in the gaps of a poor diet (often with isolated nutrients that arenât part of a whole food complex that are easily absorbed by the body), add in whole foods that contain those nutrients instead. Youâll get the bonus of more fiber which also supports digestion and your organs responsible for helping your body detox heavy metals, pesticides, toxins and chemicals.
Try to remove as many foods as you can from your diet that contain dyes, chemicals and preservatives that essentially gunk up and slow down your bodyâs internal systems.
I get asked often why I never added individual nutrient supplements or a multivitamin or multimineral to my Feel Good Supplement line and Iâve always responded that I focus on products that I believe support the body in a more complete and holistic way. If you take a good sbo probiotic, digestive enzymes and oxygen cleanse aid (Detoxy), youâll absorb nutrients more effectively which improves mood, energy and overall health. All three work together synergistically for a powerful digestion supporting trio! Thatâs why I promote them as a Feel Good Starter Kit.
Meditation is another way to tap into your bodyâs own innate intelligence. So many insights bubble to the surface after I meditate and it helps me resolve emotional unrest or anxieties. It also helps me feel more centered throughout the ups and downs of the day. When you carve out that âme timeâ and be still you are supporting your adrenal and nervous system.
I believe daily meditation is the single most powerful way to tune in to your real power, and your real truth. Itâs an opportunity to look within and begin to connect to your true, unlimited power to heal emotionally and physically. Youâll notice I mention it as an integral part of my morning practice â itâs that important to me!
I encourage you to start a simple meditation practice (I recommend you begin during your morning or nighttime ritual, but anytime you can fit it into your schedule is beneficial). You can work your way up to a longer practice over time.
Meditation can take many forms from setting intentions, to praying, to listening to your breath, or practicing other meditative techniques. The form matters less than your consistency to the practice.
If starting all of these rituals at one time feels a little overwhelming, thatâs okay. You donât need to adopt all four at the same time. Choose the rituals you feel will serve you best, and begin there. Perhaps writing down your goal to create rituals youâll stick to consistently in 2021 is the best place to start!
