This post is about transforming your life today by adding these impactful five self-care rituals that you can do right now and cost very little.
Hello Lovelies,
Want to make a difference? Add these five self-care rituals that can make a difference right now to your daily routines. You’ll be surprised how easy they are, cost very little, and have quite an impact on your life in so many ways.
Embrace the Beauty of Nature Every Day
Do what your mother told you. Get outside! Several studies have shown that a daily hour-long walk outside can improve your memory and executive function. You might notice reduced stress and calmer nerves while reconnecting with the fresh air, plant life, and small, fluffy creatures. Count on a day in nature to lower cortisol concentrations and blood pressure. How about a lift in your spirits and mood? Regular exercise can do that. Walking strengthens the much-needed muscles for balance as we age. In fact, walking has many benefits, including boosting your immune system and improving cardiovascular fitness. You might find yourself sleeping better at night, too!
Spruce Up Your Closet
It’s simple but oh-so-satisfying to stand before an organized closet. You will lessen frustration by finding clothes with ease and save valuable time more often than you realize. Pencil in an afternoon and start by returning all those ugly hangers to the dry cleaners. Most are happy to have them back. Then, treat yourself to matching velvet hangers in your favorite color.
While you are switching clothes, take a minute to inspect them. Are they long past their prime? Pilled? When was the last time you wore that blouse? Do those pants pull in the crotch? How beautiful does your sweater make you feel? Not so much? It’s time to let them go. By next month, you won’t remember you had them.
Note: After sprucing up your closet, take a minute each day to hang and store clothes properly to keep the closet orderly.
Announce Your Affirmations and Gratitude
Flip your negative thought patterns on their heads to positive ones. Simply repeating an affirmation can release you from negativity, worry, fear, and anxiety. Self-affirmation activates the reward center of your brain — the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Activating certain areas can boost happiness, self-worth, and confidence in achieving goals. Repeat affirmations daily, and they begin to take charge of your thoughts, slowly changing your thinking pattern and ultimately changing your life.
Tired of experiencing anxiety and depression? One 2020 study showed that regularly practicing gratitude can help ease symptoms. Others show improved moods. Spend a few minutes in the morning and evening practicing gratitude. You’ll notice positive feelings and an enhanced sense of well-being when done regularly.
Stretch Out Your Kinks
Next, take advantage of daily stretching, which is as important as cardio for overall health. We need flexibility to maintain a range of motion in our joints, and stretching keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy. Think of reaching for items in an overhead cabinet or twisting behind you in the car before backing out of a parking space. Stop stretching, and the muscles shorten and become tight. They are weak and unable to extend all the way when you need them, and they can begin to ache.
Stretching:
- Helps relieve post-exercise aches and pains. Stretching your muscles helps keep them loose and lessens the shortening and tightening effect that can lead to post-workout aches and pains.
- Improves posture and keeps lower back, shoulders, and chest in alignment for better posture. Slumping ages everyone.
- Helps reduce or manage stress. Muscles hold less tension when well-stretched and can help you feel less stressed.
- Improves overall performance. You’ll move more freely with less stiffness and pain.
- Improves mechanical efficiency and overall functional performance. Because a flexible joint requires less energy to move through a broader range of motion, a flexible body improves overall performance by creating more energy-efficient movements.
- Promotes circulation. Improved circulation, while increasing the blood supply to your muscles and joints, allows nutrients to transport more efficiently.
- It decreases the risk of low-back pain. Remember to consider the importance of well-stretched hamstrings, hip flexors, and pelvic muscles. Less stress on the lumbar spine reduces the risk of low-back pain.
I use a Pilates ring for exercise and stretching for a few minutes each day. This one comes in colors and has instructions for the best move to tone.
Weed Out Annoyances
Above all, life needs tending just as does a garden. Weeding out what I call “chiggers of life” has a positive effect on mood and spirit. For lovely readers unfamiliar with chiggers, they are microscopic annoyances that burrow into the epidermis and itch the hell out of you. We used to get them when running through a grassy field or picking blackberries back in the day. Mom doused us with alcohol until the itching stopped.
Fix the exasperating broken drawer you use every day, the irritating office chair ruining your posture, that person who disappoints you repeatedly, or too many unnecessary trips to the grocery store each week. Sweep them out of your life. Stop putting up with things that don’t work. I say, “If it doesn’t add to your life, eliminate it. Immediately, if not sooner. Glue the drawer, buy a new chair, or maybe a friend must go. Sign up for Instacart delivery for groceries. Stop complaining and tend to those things that can be fixed, removed, or replaced.
Life will undoubtedly be better if you work these five rituals into your daily routine. Trust me.
Let me know the ones you’ve added in the comments below!z
Hello Lovelies,
Want to make a difference? Add these five self-care rituals that can make a difference right now to your daily routines. You’ll be surprised how easy they are, cost very little, and have quite an impact on your life in so many ways.
Embrace the Beauty of Nature Every Day
Do what your mother told you. Get outside! Several studies have shown that a daily hour-long walk outside can improve your memory and executive function. You might notice reduced stress and calmer nerves while reconnecting with the fresh air, plant life, and small, fluffy creatures. Count on a day in nature to lower cortisol concentrations and blood pressure. How about a lift in your spirits and mood? Regular exercise can do that. Walking strengthens the much-needed muscles for balance as we age. In fact, walking has many benefits, including boosting your immune system and improving cardiovascular fitness. You might find yourself sleeping better at night, too!
Spruce Up Your Closet
It’s simple but oh-so-satisfying to stand before an organized closet. You will lessen frustration by finding clothes with ease and save valuable time more often than you realize. Pencil in an afternoon and start by returning all those ugly hangers to the dry cleaners. Most are happy to have them back. Then, treat yourself to matching velvet hangers in your favorite color.
While you are switching clothes, take a minute to inspect them. Are they long past their prime? Pilled? When was the last time you wore that blouse? Do those pants pull in the crotch? How beautiful does your sweater make you feel? Not so much? It’s time to let them go. By next month, you won’t remember you had them.
Note: After sprucing up your closet, take a minute each day to hang and store clothes properly to keep the closet orderly.
Announce Your Affirmations and Gratitude
Flip your negative thought patterns on their heads to positive ones. Simply repeating an affirmation can release you from negativity, worry, fear, and anxiety. Self-affirmation activates the reward center of your brain — the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Activating certain areas can boost happiness, self-worth, and confidence in achieving goals. Repeat affirmations daily, and they begin to take charge of your thoughts, slowly changing your thinking pattern and ultimately changing your life.
Tired of experiencing anxiety and depression? One 2020 study showed that regularly practicing gratitude can help ease symptoms. Others show improved moods. Spend a few minutes in the morning and evening practicing gratitude. You’ll notice positive feelings and an enhanced sense of well-being when done regularly.
Stretch Out Your Kinks
Next, take advantage of daily stretching, which is as important as cardio for overall health. We need flexibility to maintain a range of motion in our joints, and stretching keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy. Think of reaching for items in an overhead cabinet or twisting behind you in the car before backing out of a parking space. Stop stretching, and the muscles shorten and become tight. They are weak and unable to extend all the way when you need them, and they can begin to ache.
Stretching:
- Helps relieve post-exercise aches and pains. Stretching your muscles helps keep them loose and lessens the shortening and tightening effect that can lead to post-workout aches and pains.
- Improves posture and keeps lower back, shoulders, and chest in alignment for better posture. Slumping ages everyone.
- Helps reduce or manage stress. Muscles hold less tension when well-stretched and can help you feel less stressed.
- Improves overall performance. You’ll move more freely with less stiffness and pain.
- Improves mechanical efficiency and overall functional performance. Because a flexible joint requires less energy to move through a broader range of motion, a flexible body improves overall performance by creating more energy-efficient movements.
- Promotes circulation. Improved circulation, while increasing the blood supply to your muscles and joints, allows nutrients to transport more efficiently.
- It decreases the risk of low-back pain. Remember to consider the importance of well-stretched hamstrings, hip flexors, and pelvic muscles. Less stress on the lumbar spine reduces the risk of low-back pain.
I use a Pilates ring for exercise and stretching for a few minutes each day. This one comes in colors and has instructions for the best move to tone.
Weed Out Annoyances
Above all, life needs tending just as does a garden. Weeding out what I call “chiggers of life” has a positive effect on mood and spirit. For lovely readers unfamiliar with chiggers, they are microscopic annoyances that burrow into the epidermis and itch the hell out of you. We used to get them when running through a grassy field or picking blackberries back in the day. Mom doused us with alcohol until the itching stopped.
Fix the exasperating broken drawer you use every day, the irritating office chair ruining your posture, that person who disappoints you repeatedly, or too many unnecessary trips to the grocery store each week. Sweep them out of your life. Stop putting up with things that don’t work. I say, “If it doesn’t add to your life, eliminate it. Immediately, if not sooner. Glue the drawer, buy a new chair, or maybe a friend must go. Sign up for Instacart delivery for groceries. Stop complaining and tend to those things that can be fixed, removed, or replaced.
Life will undoubtedly be better if you work these five rituals into your daily routine. Trust me.
Let me know the ones you’ve added in the comments below!
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