I talk about well-being a lot. Okay, pretty much all the time. So if you're like me and you live and breathe wellness, the tips and tricks may seem a little redundant: yoga this, meditate that, eat this, journal that. But wellness is far beyond just the cliché categories (though those will never stop being vitally important to your health and happiness). Wellness is the dark stuff, the big picture stuff and the stuff you didn't even know was wellness.
1. Clear out your digital files.
We're all pretty up-to-speed on the Marie Kondo Method (purging anything that doesn't spark joy), but have you considered your digital space? Phones and computers are packed with history that may no longer serve us. It can be overwhelming, heavy and on a less emotional level, can actually slow down our software. If you, like me, have old folders of your ex or songs you downloaded in the seventh grade, try downloading an app that helps clear out old, broken, useless or duplicate files in your system like, CleanMyMac X. If you've been alive in the digital age for over a year, then this is sure to help you feel lighter and clearer.
2. Start looking at your body as an actual sacred temple.
We all have body qualms - some harsher than others - and as someone who struggled for over three years with hardcore body dysmorphia and eating disorders, I am here to tell you that there is only one way to truly shift the way you eat, exercise and look at your body. You must begin to look and treat it as a sacred temple. I know you've heard it before, but this is the only sustainable way to meet any of your body goals. If you haven't caught the memo already, this is actually a mental shift. By meeting your relationship to your body at the root, we begin to eat better, move more and love ourselves from the inside out. Start with your mind and as a result, watch your body become what you begin to believe it is. The one and only affirmation to describe your body is: "My body is a sacred temple and I treat it as such." Use it until it becomes your truth.
3. Embrace the taboos.
Sex. God. Money. Pleasure. Whatever it is for you that makes you blush, squirm or even cower in shame: start owning it. Own your desires by expressing them, exploring them and devoting time to them. The more we resist our "darker" or "shadowier" parts, the more we resist the abundance of them in our lives and ultimately, the more we resist ourselves. All of these things can be beautiful, if we look at them full-frontally and with authentic acceptance. Make a shameless list of things you want more of and start some dialogue around it with a trusted person in your life (loved one, therapist, whomever). Opening up to it first to yourself, and then outwardly will begin to shift your relationship to your desires and allow more flow to come in.
If taboos are challenging to embrace for you, you're not alone. Work with me 1:1 to deep dive into some life-changing shadow work.
Which tip could you give some time to?
