5 Daily Rituals that will improve your wellbeing!
Imagine starting your day feeling ready rather than defeated. To not fear the start of Monday or the end of Sunday. To embrace the moment and long for seconds to linger.
Why not make 2020 the year that you leave your lack of motivation behind and make a move to a healthier and brighter you. Make it the year that you decide to focus on optimising your wellbeing and put energy into enjoyment rather than going through life’s motions. All it will take to get started is the introduction of 5 Daily Rituals.
Wellbeing can incorporate both physical and mental elements. This is unsurprising given how intertwined we are between both elements of our being. You might even be wondering what even is Wellbeing and how can you improve it?
Around 30years ago Shin and Johnson introduced the concept that wellbeing can be directly affected by one’s ‘Quality of Life’. This brought up the question of how one defines their quality of life. The World Health Organisation then went on to define this in 1997 as: “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, personal beliefs, social relationships and their relationship to salient features of their environment (World Health Organization, 1997)”.
So how on earth are you supposed to tackle something so complex and so intertwined? Start small and aim big.
Let’s look at 5 Daily Rituals that you can incorporate into your everyday life to optimise your wellbeing.
Start your day with Intent
If you are an avid blog reader of any type, you will have noticed the recent hype around setting your intentions.
Intent can be expressed through the writing down of goals. Making this a daily ritual will prove to be beneficial to your wellbeing in more ways than one. They don’t have to be world changing. Don’t forget this is a daily ritual and nobody is going to cure world hunger in a day. Some examples of daily intentions can include:
- Today I will walk along the beach after work for 30 minutes
- Today I will spend 10minutes without any electronic stimuli
- Today I will start planning my side hustle after work
3 simple ideas covering 3 different topics. Think outside the box and challenge yourself every day. Neuropsychologists have identified that those who generate content (write down their goals) are more likely to achieve them. Working on this daily ritual will increase your sense of achievement from within. Thus, making you feel more mentally satisfied with your day.
15 minutes of yoga everyday
Don’t shy away from this. We know a lot of people put yoga in the ‘too hard basket’ with excuses like ‘I don’t know how to do yoga’, ‘I am not flexible’ etc etc. Be patient and give yourself a chance. We didn’t say do professional yoga for 15minutes everyday - just yoga! There are so many yogi’s that teach through YouTube which means you have nothing to lose!
Incorporating this daily ritual into your routine will alter your brain chemistry and boost your mood along with increasing your flexibility, energy and self-worth. This alone will contribute to a better quality of life which in turn will increase your sense of wellbeing.
Here are some of our favourite 15minute yoga routines that you can add to your daily rituals:
Find a way to disconnect and reconnect
Finding a way to disconnect from the digital world that we live in is imperative for your overall wellbeing. In order to effectively disconnect you need to find a ritual that will help you reach a sense of calm. Finding this solace can bring relaxation, beautiful memories, hopes, dreams and peace.
One of the most effective ways we can evoke each of these emotions and experiences is through our sense of smell. We like to refer to this as ‘Sensory Refinement’.
It’s not unknown that our sense of smell can transcend our minds into the depths of deep thought and serenity. MAHŌ incense sticks were created to do just this. Each scent has been curated to evoke the minds of each one of us and take us to where it is that we find peace.
The visual burning of red ember and rising of fluffy clouds will bring you into relaxation whilst the smouldering scent released will engulf your sense of smell. Magical white clouds will create a sense of awe and mystery, removing your worries and restoring your inner peace and tranquillity.
We suggest burning MAHŌ incense sticks while enjoying your favourite activities to heighten your disconnect experience:
- Your morning or evening meditation
- Soaking in the bath
- Relaxing with a facial to your favourite soundtrack
Read a Paperback book
We don’t know about you, but we aren’t sure anything beats the traditional ritual that is reading a book. You can have the flexibility to choose what you want to get out of this time. Whether you choose to educate yourself, entertain yourself or better yourself - just taking time away from your screen, away from people and just alone with your book will do you wonders. We do recommend rotating your genres just to get the most out of this fabulous daily ritual. Some of our favourite books on rotation that we can recommend for you are:
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Each of these books are in the genre of challenging your mind and broadening your perspective. A great way to fight off Alzheimer’s and keep your mind active! Through spending a designated time each day to the daily ritual of reading you will find your wellbeing will benefit through stimulation, satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
Positive Affirmations
Quite possibly put into popular circulation around the internet through Louise Hay, Positive Affirmations have become a very common daily ritual adopted by many. Before you get sceptical let us reassure you that it is all for good reasons!
Here are three science backed reasons to add Positive Affirmations to your 5 Daily Rituals that will improve your wellbeing:
- Self-affirmations have been shown to decrease health-deteriorating stress (Sherman et al., 2009; Critcher & Dunning, 2015);
- Self-affirmations have been used effectively in interventions that led people to increase their physical behaviour (Cooke et al., 2014);
- They may help us to perceive otherwise “threatening” messages with less resistance, including interventions (Logel & Cohen, 2012);
Adding the ritual of positive affirmations to your daily routine will help you adapt a more optimistic mindset as well as respond to difficult and testing times with less resistance. Here are some positive affirmations we like to use on rotation each morning:
- I am confident and I can do what I put my mind to
- I am a successful person
- I am kind to others
- I deserve for others to be kind to me
- I deserve greatness
- I am resilient, strong and brave.
We find writing them down and repeating them out loud during your morning routine is a great way to set your mind right for the day.