Hi lovely! I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but I’m so glad to be back! I’m doing a fresh start with my blog and committing to publishing every Tuesday and Friday at a minimum. Maybe even more. ✨
Here are some major life updates:
– I got back to working full time in advertising and social media strategy, after working freelance and working full-time on my blogging business for over three years.
– I moved to a new apartment and currently decorating to make it the most Instagrammable apartment in the universe 🙏🏼🏡💕
Because of the changes in my life, a new schedule, a move and decorating my new place from scratch, I’ve been trying to be more strategic with my morning routine and daily practices.
My mornings are typically getting ready and running out the door asap, so some of these practices I’m explaining below get rushed and spaced out throughout my day. I’m great at doing the entire practice on the weekends though! I still think I do a great job with all of this work that I’ve been implementing into my life and each of them has helped me to be happier, more productive, and more positive (aka having faith in yourself). I’ve been doing a lot of self-growth and spiritual work in the past two years, and I learned that, if I’m not in alignment, my creative work and communication won’t be 100%. And that’s not fun. As a perfectionist and lightworker, I believe in the power of giving your 100% to every task you’re working on. And that’s how the magic happens. ✨
So, I might talk about some of the terms/concepts I’ve mentioned so far on a separate blog post, but this post is specifically about the morning routine I’ve recently perfected and how I’m trying to make it better. If you’re interested, keep on reading!
- White light visualization meditation
Since the end of January this year, I’ve been meditating/listening to a white light visualization practice recorded by a dear friend of mine. It guides you to visualize a white light around you and throughout your body, and then you take it to space and it gets a little trippy after that. A lot of creative people get their inspirations and take their desires into the action/next step by doing meditations in this genre.
I can focus and do this meditation better when I’m sitting down with my eyes closed. My friend created this to be practiced while driving, and that’s what I do during the week since my mornings are rushed, but I love that I can do this 100% on the weekends. This one is 10 minutes, and I’m sure you can find similar and/or shorter ones on Youtube. If you can’t and would like me to send me some, email me.
2. Writing on my gratitude journal – 5 Minute Journal
I’m sure you’ve heard of gratitude journals before. You basically write down the things you’re grateful for every day. You can even make one yourself or just take notes in a notebook. Since I’m a sucker for good design, branding, and packaging, so I’ve been using a ‘5 Minute Journal’ on and off for a few years now. In addition to writing down 3 things I’m grateful for today, I write down 3 things that would make today great and daily affirmations (I am…). For the 2nd part of this practice, before I go to bed, I write down the most significant things I’ve accomplished that day and what I could have done better. If you follow me on my IG stories, I’m sure you saw screenshots my journal entries or daily quotes at some point.
I go through phases in which I do this step religiously, but sometimes I fail. I’ve been on a kick lately and promised myself to keep it up. I’ve been taking my journal to work with me and log in while I’m at sitting at my office, sipping my coffee. It only takes a few minutes.
3. Magical morning practice (Recording voice memos)
A new practice I learned from a spiritual teacher I recently discovered, Gala Darling, and I’ve been doing it religiously. She calls this practice her ‘MAGICAL MORNING PRACTICE’ and the steps are;
- Record things I’m deeply grateful for.
- State a desire for the day, something I want to happen for the 24hrs.
- State a desire for the future, something I want to happen but a bigger desire, a bigger scale and for long term, not just for that day. State both as if they already happened.
It might sound similar to my journaling, but stating your desires as if they already happened takes this practice to a manifestation level, so highly recommended! I typically do this one a little bit later in the morning and sometimes around noon since I get busy at work, but this can be done anytime during the day! As I said before, weekends are easier for me to do my morning practices altogether, so if you can, I recommend doing all of these practices first thing in the morning. Most people do this right after waking up, while they’re still in bed.
She recommends sending your voice memos to your girlfriends/best friends who might understand the power of this process, and ask them to do the same. I tried doing this, but unfortunately, my friends aren’t able to send their own recordings to me, too busy, or diff reasons, so I’ve just been recording these for myself.
4. Tapping (Emotional freedom technique – EFT)
I’ve heard of tapping before from one of my favorite self-help writers, Gabrielle Bernstein, but I haven’t tried it until I discovered Gala Darling. I discovered her a few weeks ago, and I’ve been obsessed with her! This technique has been super helpful to me and addresses some of the issues I need to work on. I also purchased her class on abundance and money – I still need to complete it! This kind of deep work takes time, effort and commitment, not easy for sure. I’ve been tapping with her almost every day and got a ticket for her live tapping event later this month in LA! Geez, I’m so excited! She’s been super influential to me, even though it’s only been a month or less since I discovered her. I’ve been binge watching all of her Youtube videos. Every Sunday, she releases a new video for her ‘Her Vibe Honey’ show and pulls Tarot cards and does a weekly reading followed by a tapping session based on the cards – customized for the upcoming week. If you know me a bit, then you know I geek out on cards; Tarot cards, Universe Has Your Back deck by Gabrielle Bernstein, Angel cards, Oracle cards, you name it. So her work and content are right up my alley. So glad I found her. 🙏🏼
Her energy is so magical, and I can’t wait to meet her in person. Check out her Youtube and Instagram.
This meditation takes 5-10 minutes, and I typically do it when I get back home. If I feel like I really need to get centered and increase my energy, I would go to my car while I’m at work do a session with Gala’s videos. I’m taking notes on my phone about specific tapping routines that have helped me to find what I’m looking for easier. For example:
Tapping to be proud of what you do – link
Tapping when I need to keep going and need an energy boost – link
Tapping when I need to stop procrastinating – link
Etc.
On the weekends, I start my days with this technique (it’s my current fav of all of these techniques) and it 100% sets the tone for my day.
I’m a night owl (writing this post at 3am and need to be up at 7:30am) so tapping before I leave for work during the week is not functional with my current routine, and that’s ok. I’m not gonna be hard on myself about it. As long as I’m doing the practice, I’m proud of myself.
5. Deep meditation
I’ve started meditating about 1,5 years ago. Feels weird to say it because I don’t think I’m great at it. I’m hyper and constantly thinking of projects and things to do, so not thinking about anything else for 10-15min does not come naturally to me. About a year ago I started meditating with the ‘Calm’ app and some months I did it every day, though I don’t think I was doing it 100%. They have guided meditations and a new concept each day. I was either getting caught up on deep thought about ‘STUFF’ or falling asleep. After I got back to working full-time, I couldn’t keep it up this type of meditation and stopped.
I’ve also been studying Abraham Hicks’ teachings for the past 1,5 yrs, and one of their top tips for creating your reality is through meditation. But the meditation they recommendation is just by listening to yourself. At least for 10 minutes, sitting in the quiet with eyes closed and not thinking about anything at all. Now, this is a ninja skill practice and tough for me. But I want to start doing this. They say the inspiration comes easier to those who can start listening to their intuition/guides by doing this type of meditation work. Today is Saturday, so maybe I’ll start? I know I can do it, I need to practice and try not to pass out. Anything is possible with practice and commitment. Esther Hicks (Abraham) recommends doing this first thing in the morning, but you can do it anytime.
6. Mantras throughout the day
After going through the toughest time of my life exactly 2 years ago – literally everything fell apart – I was depressed for the first time in my life and started doing mantras. That’s how my self-help and spiritual journey began, so I’m actually grateful for everything I went through. I’ve learned, grown, and surprised myself at a level by changing/doing things I never thought I was capable of. I have a few mantas that I do depending on my current phase of life, but there are a few that stuck with me that I do throughout the day. I will do a separate a blog post about my mantras soon, but there’s a new one that I started doing last week in the mornings. I learned this one from Marianne Williamson, one of the top self-help/spiritual authors, who is also running for president in 2020! Anyway, the mantra goes like this:
ASK the universe/God 🌞 ☕️
Where would you have me go today?
What would you have me do today?
What would you have me say today and to whom?
I hope this post helps you and I’d love to know what type of daily practices or gratitude work you do.
I’m grateful for you! 🙂
xx
Nihan
Photos by: Erin Wiese
Hair by: Latisha Marcum
Location: Cafe Madeleine, San Diego
