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Last Updated on September 10, 2018 by Diane Hoffmaster
If you are pulled into too many directions and feeling stressed out, chances are that your internal resources are running low. You need to learn how to add me time back into your daily routine. It isn't always easy. Moms are constantly being pulled into too many directions. However, when we forget to stop and recharge our batteries, our health (both physical and emotional) tend to suffer.
When I was approached by Tejal Patel, the Mindful Mama coach, to share a few tips about how to add me time into your day, I thought it would be a great resource for my readers. Hopefully, these tips help you take a step back and renew yourself this month!
How to Add Me Time Back Into Your Daily Routine
Whether you’re a working mom or a stay-at-home mom, it’s easy to fall into a trap of taking care of everyone else but yourself. If we want to be the best for those around us, we cannot allow ourselves to feel guilty about taking the time to recharge. Infusing peaceful moments through mindfulness and meditation is one of the greatest ways we can take care of ourselves. Here are a few tips on how to add me time back into your daily routine:
Tip 1: Mindful Morning
The alarm goes off, and it’s time to start the day. Avoid the urge to connect with the world on Facebook or emails. Instead, connect with you. When you get up, start your morning in front of the mirror. While you brush your teeth, look at yourself in the eyes for 1 full minute. Yes, that’s 1 minute. Take deep breaths as you mentally repeat the words, “I love you.” In this mindful morning exercise, you’re allowing yourself to be centered, completely connected with you and caring for yourself before you connect with the world. It’s okay to start with you. Let this exercise of self-care empower you to better connect with those around you.
(check out the post 10 Morning Habits of Highly Successful People for other morning habits to add to your routine!)
Tip 2: Take a Breathing Break
A kindergarten teacher will tell her class to stop and count to 10 while taking deep breaths if they’re feeling overwhelmed. Moms, we know all about these breaks for our kids, but some of us need to permit ourselves to go ahead and breathe. Make an anchor to remind yourself to create a peaceful pause by incorporating the breathing break with another activity you plan to do during the day. Let’s say you do a lot of driving. Put a Post-it note on your dashboard that says, “Breathe deep!” Every time you sit in your car, take a breathing break for 1 minute to help you relax and shift your mood. It’s okay. One minute of this breathing break won’t make you late and will save you from feeling overwhelmed. Your peace is worth it.
Tip 3: Mindful Evening
When it’s finally time for the day to end, allow the peace to continue. Just as you began your day connecting to yourself, you can end your day connecting to yourself. Beyond the mirror exercise, while you are laying in bed, consciously make sure your last thought is not about tomorrow or a to-do list. Don’t allow yourself to regret any mistakes you made during the day. Instead, close your eyes, put your hands on your heart and take deep breathes for 1 minute. Slowly breathe in and repeat in your mind, “I AM _____.” As you exhale, fill in the blank with how you feel. For me, my favorite mindful evening phrases are: “I am safe.” “I am peaceful.” “I am loved.” “I am calm.” “I am grateful.”
Me time is all about reconnecting with yourself and finding your center. It’s not always about going to the spa or long vacations, (even though those are great rituals as well). Life is happening now! The greatest way to prioritize more me time is to infuse mindful breathing and calm breaks during tasks you are already doing like brushing your teeth, cooking, driving, nursing or bottle-feeding your child or even opening doors.
If you’re ready to practice 5 Days of infusing 5 minutes of peaceful pauses every day, join the FREE 5-Day Mindfulness Experience starting on March 27, 2017. Sign up here!
Tejal is a former divorce attorney turned mindfulness advocate. She is a Mindful Mama Coach, Kids and Kundalini Yoga and Meditation teacher and founder of the online training program The Mindful Mama Experience. To learn more about Tejal and her mindful parenting course, head over to www.TejalVPatel.com
Like this post? Try one of these.
How to Feed Your Soul
How to Be More Optimistic
Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She has two college aged kids, one husband and more pets than she will admit to. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire but left her career in science to become a stay at home mom. Years of playing with LEGO and coloring with crayons had her craving a more grown up purpose to her life and she began blogging and freelance writing full time. You can learn more about her HERE.
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