A Guide to Self Care

The bravest thing you can do is to care for yourself. Let's face it, the past few years might have seemed like a constant struggle and wrong turns left and right. In the hustle and bustle of your life don't forget to take at least five minutes a day to focus on yourself and self evaluate your mindfulness. There are so many short and easy ways you can incorporate self care practices into your life. Read below for our guide on self care! 

Use this list to plan out a month of self care and mindfulness!

1. Drink some tea or coffee
2. Take a bath
3. Go hiking
4. Do yoga
5. Treat your self
6. Eat your favorite food (Don't worry about calories)
7. Go get a massage
8. Take a nap
9. Snuggle with your pet
10. Exercise
11. Start a journal
12. Create an inspiration board
13. Declutter your room
14. Watch your favorite movie
15. Light a candle
16. Meet with an old friend
17. Turn your phone off for a few hours
18. Cry if you need to
19. Volunteer at a local soup kitchen
20. Write someone a letter
21. Listen to nature music
22. Eat a nutritious breakfast
23. Go cloud watching
24. Make a DIY Face mask
25. Write down what you’re thankful for
26. Spend time with family
27. Try a new restaurant
28. Road trip!
29. Read a book (See our suggestions below!)
30. Do absolutely nothing

Here are our favorite books to help with self-care!

  1. Believe It to Achieve It: Overcome Your Doubts, Let Go of the Past, and Unlock Your Full Potential by Brian Tracy and Christina Stein


Believe It to Achieve It is an essential reading for anyone who knows they are feeling down, but can't seem to pin point exactly why that is. If you're in any way fascinated by psychology and how the brain processes negativity, this book is perfect for you. Brian Tracy and Christina Stein help you to identify how and why we retract to negativity in hard times. More importantly, however, they show how we can overcome this negativity and focus on achieving our dreams and healing our hearts.

 2. I Am Here Now: A Creative Mindfulness Guide and Journal by The Mindfulness Project


This reading is PACKED with a whole bunch of activities and exercises ranging from short breathing exercises to daily journaling prompts. The guide's ultimate goal is to achieve mindfulness, which the book defines as "being in tune with your senses". I Am Here Now is perfect for all ages! This journal is very interactive and would make a great daily activity to share with your children and family.  

 3. Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives by Thich Nhat Hanh

On nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize of 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. stated, "His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” This reading is based around peace and meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh stresses the importance of taking time to ourselves every day to focus on our mindfulness. The book is written with those who live a busy life in mind. The chapters are short and extremely easy to read. Take a couple minutes out of every day to read a few paragraphs or chapters of Peace is Every Breath and learn how to achieve mindfulness and empower yourself.

4. The Self-Love Experiment: Fifteen Principles for Becoming More Kind, Compassionate, and Accepting of Yourself by Shannon Kaiser

If you struggle with loving yourself, Shannon Kaiser has a ton of motivational principles to help you to understand why you struggle with yourself and how to accept yourself! This book focuses on how to put yourself first and focus on loving yourself. However, Kaiser also focuses on loving your life and those who are apart of it. What makes this book so moving is that Shannon Kaiser walks you through her own personal struggles and shows how she has grown to become more compassionate as a result.  

5. Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book by Johanna Basford

I know this book isn't technically a "reading", but it definitely has impacted my personal wellness. Color therapy is proven to be an effective form of therapy. There is something about coloring and doodling that is calming and relaxing. Johanna Basford also has a ton of different coloring books for many different themes, so you can better tailor your meditation to your own needs. Coloring is addicting, but incredibly effective. Don't say I didn't warn you. It is also perfect for the little ones too!

Whenever you're anxious or just need to charge down, use this breathing exercise to ground yourself!

Inhale for 5 seconds
Hold for 3 seconds
Exhale for 5 seconds
Hold for 3 seconds

REPEAT

“Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn’t more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.” ~Sylvia Boorstein