Shen Dove

personal style, musings and inspiration

Monthly Wellness To-Do – February 2018

 

In 2018 I want to take my wellness habits into my own hands and if you want to do the same, take part in a monthly wellness to-do.

This Month’s Wellness to-do: Switch out one personal care product for a natural/non-toxic/less toxic one.

Your skin is very absorbent, so it ideal to be more aware of the ingredients of your personal care products. But this can be daunting, so focusing on one product category at a time can be more manageable. This month, I’m researching natural fragrance options. I want to find a perfume I absolutely love that’s at least less toxic even if it’ on the pricier side. I’m looking for a less toxic fragrance that would be ideal for the spring and summer months (I’m so over winter!). I also love natural oils so it would be great to find an oil based option as well. If you want to join me in this to-do but aren’t into fragrances, I suggest starting off with exploring natural deodorant options (this one is my current favorite).

Previous 2018 Wellness To-Dos: January 2018

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On Budgeting and Spending

I’ve come to the realization that the areas I want to focus on being mindful of this spring are my budgeting and spending habits. I want to make sure my credit score stays at the level it’s at now and if I keep spending like this, it’ll start decreasing! If you don’t have a credit score then it’s important for things like loans and mortgages so be sure the get the best credit card for people with no credit. A lot of people struggle to build their credit score so the fact I’ve got a score right now just shows that I can’t blow it with some bad spending. My budgeting and spending habits have become a bit haphazard lately and I might end up needing to look at AdvanceLoan lending options. I need to do a reset…similar to how I’d do a diet reset (I may actually do one of those too!). So what will mindful budgeting and spending look like for me this spring?

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On Habits: My Morning Routine Musts

I’m a creature of habit when it comes to my morning routines. The rest of the day can unfold organically, but I like to have a structured morning routine. Here are a few non-negotiables that I build into my morning routine.

Practice Oil Pulling + Tongue Scraping

Oil pulling is an Ayurvedic practice that has gained popularity in recent years where you swish oil (Coconut or Sesame) in your mouth for 15-20 min without swallowing and then spit it out to remove toxins upon waking in the morning and before eating. After Oil Pulling, I scrape my tongue as another way to eliminate toxins from the mouth. Some people also find that Oil Pulling helps to brighten their smile. A friend of mine recently had her teeth professionally whitened by a Dentist in Modesto and so I have been taking extra care of my teeth recently too. I hope I can get mine whitened like her one day!

Drink Hot Water + Lemon

Before eating anything I have hot water + ginger + half a lemon with raw honey. Drinking water with lemon has been purported to have detoxing benefits, but I just like to start off the day by drinking more water. I never used to drink lemon water or much water in general, but it wasn’t until I saw a friend of mine do it all the time and I was intrigued. I started doing some research into the benefits of lemon water and I was pretty impressed. I even considered buying a water filter from a site like https://zazenalkalinewater.com.au/products/zazen-alkaline-water-system to get cleaner water. But until I make that purchase, putting lemon in my water is good for now.
The only downside to this is that I have to wait for ages for my kettle to heat up in the mornings before I can get my daily dose of lemon water. My friend has told me to check out this Source that she has used before to find the best hot water dispenser for my home so that I don’t have to wait as long for any warm water. This could significantly impact my life as it will allow me to get started with my day even quicker. This is something that I’m definitely going to look into.

Eat Breakfast

Regardless of what my plan is for the day, I am a breakfast person. It’s not a meal that I ever skip. My typical breakfasts usually consist of eggs + veggies, gluten-free oatmeal, and occasionally gluten-free toast. I typically have a Matcha Latte an hour or two after breakfast.

Make time to Read Blogs | Listen to Podcasts

Unless I have a commitment that requires me to get out the door earlier than usual, I enjoy having some “me” time in the morning. I like to catch up on my blog reading and podcast listening while getting ready for the day and eating breakfast. One thing I try to avoid as much as possible during my routine is listening/watching the news or doing more than a cursory scroll through Twitter. To start my day on a positive note, I have avoided Twitter until later in the day since the Presidential election. The (political) news just raises my anxiety levels these days. If a major news story broke that can’t wait until later in the day when I check in on news sites or the Skimm newsletter, a friend or relative will inevitably text me to let me know what’s going on.

Morning Walk

My walk to the Metro in DC is about 15 minutes from my apartment. In my current apartment and the last few places I’ve lived, I have purposefully chosen to live near public transportation because I don’t have a car. I really don’t need a (or want) car at this time as a city dweller. My morning walk is a great time to clear my head, get fresh air and continue to listen to any podcast I don’t finish up before I leave home.

There are some morning habit’s I’d like to cultivate this year like exercising and writing Morning Pages, but my morning routine as it is works pretty well.

What are your morning routine musts?

Image: The Vault Files

On Letter Writing

As a member of the older set of the millennial generation, I remember a time during my childhood/early teens (before the rise of social media) where letter writing was still a thing that people did. I had a love of stationery and thought that letter writing accessories were so fun to collect! On a related note, I LOVED getting cute stationary from Zany Brainy for anyone who remembers that store. I actually had pen pals that I corresponded with on a regular basis. Oh, what simpler times! The only remnant from letter writing that I do still keep up with is attempting to send postcards when I travel for longer lengths of time (with mixed results to be honest). I once had a pen pal in Argentina, it was a while ago now and I wish I had the use of Codigo-postal to get the correct zip code to write to as I’m pretty sure in the early days I sent it to someone else… whoops.

It may be considered a dated practice for many these days, but I still feel that letter writing is important. It’s still a joy to get mail that isn’t a credit card offer or some ad designed to entice you to purchase something you don’t need! It’s still important to be a voice of dissent and notifying your elected officials on how you feel about political outcomes that infringe on civil and human rights. It’s easy to make a positive/personal impact by writing to a politician or public figure you admire when they take an action that you appreciate or respect. It’s still gratifying to send a dear friend a handwritten note on their birthday rather than just creating a Facebook post (no shade to Facebook bday posts, they’re great too!).

Writing in all forms is still an important form of self-expression and I’d like to take the time to write letters again. This may not be a regular occurrence because we all get busy…but that makes letter writing all the more special as a practice. Care to join me?

On Practicing Yoga and Cultivating Habits

While not very consistent with my practice these days, I truly enjoy yoga. As is the case with many people, I use yoga to feel good. Yoga, a practice that is thousands of years old and originates from Indian Ayurvedic tradition, has proven health benefits such as reducing stress, strengthening bones, building balance, staving off cognitive decline, among others (source). Cognitive decline can happen to anyone and every one, some more than others, yoga can help with things like this but unfortunately, it may not be able to stop the rapid decline, if a family member of yours has diseases like dementia, you will want to help them maintain quality of life that works for them, many things can help add to this and yoga can be a part of that. Yoga is a form of self-care and exercise that I feel makes a difference in my personal quality of life. Though gym memberships go unused every time I’ve tried them, I’ve always enjoyed exercising in group settings. In some ways, group exercise classes like yoga take me back to my childhood during which I took various dance classes for over a decade. But I haven’t made time for practicing yoga at home or attending my usual studio in recent months. Especially since the weather has gotten colder, it seems far easier to head indoors at the end of the day than to take the extra effort to trek to the yoga studio! And the call of my couch and Netflix is strong after a long workday…

After watching a yoga program for beginners (of which I was at the time), I decided to make practicing yoga a daily habit I want to focus on cultivating this year. I know this website will help me and with most habits, once I get back into the swing of it, I’m sure yoga will again become a cherished part of my regular routines. I’m truly not a night time person, so I’ll commit to waking up earlier to do a short yoga practice before starting my day. I also want to try a trap yoga class (a vinyasa yoga practiced to trap music) in DC that’s been on my to-do list for ages. I’m going to sign up for a class this week and stop coming up with excuses not to go.

Here’s to creating sustainable, good habits in 2017!

Image: Black Girl in Om’s Instagram