A few days ago, I decided it was time for me to take a look at some of my more recent journaling entries. With a bunch of my writing pieces being in the messy middle and not quite ready to be shared, I decided to reflect on a journal entry from a few months ago that started with the words, “How do I choose life each and every day?”
Daily life can be overwhelming. With every day comes deep feelings, a long to do list, and a desire to hide under the covers for eternity. I am not sure that I have ever totally checked out of life for very long; instead I take one step and then another. I reach for the next best thing and I move forward. Each and every day, I choose life.
I am the architect of my life. While daily practices sustain me, so does living authentically, engaging in activism, creating a home that nurtures my soul, and by surrounding myself with friends that I adore. Perhaps all of these things are practices.
A rough childhood taught me that I really needed to take care of myself. And I have learned that the best way to do just that is to consciously create daily life practices that ground me one action at a time.
- Morning routine
- Wake-up without an alarm clock by 6 or 6:30 AM (at the latest)
- Take probiotic
- Drink water (lots)
- Make bed, stretch, feed dog, do some quick chores, and journal (30 or so minutes)
- Take my stomach medication
- Chant and/or walk for a couple of miles
- Eat breakfast
- Throughout the day
- Paint inspirational cards, etc.
- Journal whenever thoughts pop into my head
- Weave
- Read
- Walk (5-7 miles)
- Food norms – (This is relatively new for me since I have been doing this only for a few months.)
- plant based diet (mostly)
- fish – once a week
- green smoothies (4 – 6 times/week)
- no added sugar
- no alcohol
- drinking lots of water
- dinner with my sons (5+ times/week)
- Night Routine – Work In Progress (WIP) that needs to be strengthened.
- Evening walk (4+ times/week)
- Stretch
- Golden milk or tea
- Before bed chanting
Above is not all I do, but it is a skeleton of how I navigate my life. Without these practices, I would be in rough shape. They provide order when my spirit is in disarray; they ground me so that I can live with more ease. Daily practices always provide me a pathway to healthy living.
Looking Back
I am not certain when I started embracing daily practices as a “thing”. It started slowly, so slowly that I didn’t notice it was happening. Perhaps it can be traced back to when I realized that if I wasn’t writing/journaling then I must be in a dark place. My son Dovi was actually the first person to point this out to me when he was about 8 years old. And ever since that time, he has been the first person to remind me that I must not be writing enough when I am less than grounded, angry, or sad. He is still the first person to remind me to get back to my writing if I fall off the wagon.
Over time I have learned that daily practices empower me to live life more fully regardless of where my spirit is. And what I love most about them is that they are always a work in progress; as I stretch and grow, they do too.
Every day I choose how I want to live. Every day I choose life!
Onward with love, light, & blessings,
Chava
PS: Thanks for reading what will likely be part of my memoir which at this point is being called, Living Out Loud: A Thriver’s Journey. If you like what you are reading, please take a moment and like it on WordPress or any social media site, AND if you have feedback, I’d love to hear it.