Springing into Spring

It’s the first Monday of spring! I love all the seasons for different reasons. Spring, brings us more hours of daylight, warmer weather and for me, it always feels like a time of new beginnings. Today, I’m feeling pretty positive and I honestly believe my new habits play a big part in this, so I thought I would share these with you for some Monday Motivation. Fuel First The first thing I do each morning is feed Toby. I know that if I try and do anything else before doing this, he will be complaining and interrupting me until I feed him. Once he is fed and watered, I make myself a smoothie - I use a really easy recipe from BBC Good Food and I fill up my 2 litre bottle with squash, as I am rubbish and drinking water otherwise. Once I am armed with my fuel for the morning, I head up to the sanctuary, where I put some concoction of Essential Oils into my Neom diffuser and take my vitamins (Magnesium, B12, & Vitamin C with Zinc) S.A.V.E.R.S second Its then time to complete some of my S.A.V.E.R.S from Miracle Morning I do a 10 minute meditation using the headspace app, which I get for free through my Vitality healthcare. I read the days insight from The Daily Stoic, which can sometimes be scarily apt and then a chapter of another book, which at the moment is Practical Mindfulness I set my goals for the day in my Law of Attraction planner, these are based on goals I set myself at the start of the planner, which are then broken down each month. I fill in the morning section of The Way of the Tortoise journal, which I got for my birthday last year and is perfect for the Miracle Morning as I can include my Affirmations and Visualisations here. The only thing currently missing from this is the Exercise part. This week I plan to include some movement everyday, today for example, I walked to the shops and back and on Wednesday I plan to walk to and from my counselling session. I think this is something I need to think about at the beginning of each week so I can fit it in with my plans, as long as I include it where possible I'll be happy. Finances Third Next I look at my budget planner. I remember about 14 years ago, crying to my friend Jane when at work, when the bank decided they were going to remove my overdraft and give me a very short space of time to pay it back. She set me up with a spreadsheet where you input your expected salary and your outgoings and it calculates how much money you have left at the end of each month. I'm sorry to say, I used this spreadsheet very sporadically until recently. I have made some tweaks and now, after years of actively avoiding it, I make sure I update it everyday so I can keep on top of my finances and it does really help. I then check my emails, if there is anything I like the look of but don't have time to read, I'll flag it for later or I'll open the article in my browser and add to my reading list. I quite enjoy sitting down of an evening and reading through all the various things I have saved, rather than rushing through or deleting altogether. I like to make sure I do the above things in the morning, before starting anything else or I leave the house. I find it puts me in a good mindset for the day. I'm also trying to incorporate the following throughout the day where I can. - Set aside an hour or so to work on my writing. This week I have tasked myself with writing the book for one hour a day, as well as any additional writing for the blog. I tend to work on the blog posts first as I find this gets me in the right mindset for writing. - More diffusing. I have a diffuser downstairs as well as upstairs. If we are home, I like to put a nice chillout diffuser blend after dinner, the past few days have been decongesting blends for the husband, which have seemed to work. I find the blends online, usually Pinterest. - Drink to doze. I like to make myself a sleep tea or hot chocolate to take up to bed with me - Journal. Before I go to bed, I complete the evening part of my The Way of the Tortoise journal, I list 3 things I am grateful for and I also write about the days events in my five year diary. - Read. Reading is the number one thing that helps me to get sleepy. I always read fiction at night, most nights I don't get more than a chapter in before my eyes start closing. - Once I am ready for sleep, I put on my sleepmask, it has bluetooth speakers in and I love it! The husband bought it for me for Christmas the year before last and I take it with me whenever I'm staying elsewhere overnight. I put on my podcast playlists, set a timer for it to stop playing and never usually get through the first one. I know it seems like a lot, but I think as long as you are enjoying doing them and they do not seem like a chore it makes it much easier. Obviously, life happens and sometimes I can't do all of them which is why I try and do the ones I find most beneficial in the morning before anything else. #mondaymotivation #monday #mondaymood #motivation #mondayvibes #motivationmonday #mondaymorning #inspiration #goals #positivevibes #success #newweek #life #lifestyle #happymonday #healthylifestyle #selfcare #selflove #love #loveyourself #mentalhealth #wellness #health #positivevibes #happiness #life #mindfulness #fitness #positivity #healing #happy #yourself #mindset #meditation #mentalhealthawareness