Name: Nikki Ostrower
Rating: 5

I know sometimes I must sound like a broken record. I repeat myself again and again to my clients, my students, my friends, my family. And I’ll say it again. Self-care is not an option if you want to live a happy, peaceful life. Especially if you’re a sensitive, empathic, person.

Self-care, of course, includes the obvious elements, such as a nutrient-rich-plant-rich-diet, plenty of exercise, and good hygiene. None are optional if you want to maintain good health.

To maintain happiness and inner-peace, self-care must include emotional, spiritual practices as well. My daily practices, which I share below, help me stay centered, focused, optimistic, connected, creative, productive, peaceful, and happy.

These are the tools and techniques that work for me. With most, I mix and match, depending upon the day, the amount of time available, and my emotional/spiritual needs. Some practices, such as Meditation and Gratitude, are non-negotiable, and I do them every day.

Most days I usually do at least 4 or 5 of these techniques. Some days I do only 2. Other days I might do them all! Some are so quick, or so easy to fit in my day, that they don’t take ‘extra time.’ And, truth be told, when I don’t do anything, which does happen once in a while, I feel completely off, out of focus, and anxious. That’s why I use a checklist to track my progress. I’ve learned the hard way, it’s not worth falling off track.

Create your own plan. Take any of the following techniques that work for you, add in your own, and tuck them into pockets throughout your day. Choose at least one activity, such as meditation, to do each day, no matter what. None of the activities need to take a lot of time. And, as long as you’re peppering them throughout the day, you’ll be optimizing your energy.

Meditation
I practice some form of meditation, each day, from 10 to 60 minutes. Some days I do two or more shorter meditations. Insight Timer, is a fantastic, free, app, that I use to time my meditations. It comes with an extensive library of sounds, bells, meditations, and music.

Another meditation I love is the Eco-Meditation, created by Dawson Church, founder of EFT Universe. When I assist at Dawson’s professional trainings, we practice this meditation each morning before we begin class for the day. At home, I use this meditation on my own, without audio. Click here for the Eco-Meditation instructions

Abundance Meditation
For this meditation, I use The Abundance Book, by John Randolph Price. It’s a little green book with 10 principle statements. I meditate on one principle a day for 15 minutes, for 40 days or more. This helps keep me in an abundant, spiritual, frame of mind.

Gratitude Meditation
Closing my eyes, I meditate for 5 minutes on something for which I am grateful. It can be something that I already have, or that I would like to have. This sense of gratitude feels truly authentic, and really, really good.

Goals
I hand-write write my goals, in present tense, expressing my gratitude for reaching them. This feels good, and it helps me keep on top of my goals. I write my goals nearly every day. This takes about 10 minutes.

Morning Pages
Originated by Author Julia Cameron, morning pages are 3 hand-written free-flow pages each morning. They’re invaluable for clearing the mind, and sparking creative flow.

Yoga or Exercise
Exercising in the morning invigorates me for the rest of the day. Movement is crucial for efficient energy flow, lymph flow, strength, anxiety release, and more.

Heart Breath
I add the Heart Breath in whenever I feel stuck in my head. The Heart Breath helps me drop out of a busy, over-worked mind, into the peace and calm of my heart. It’s a great tool for reducing anxiety. 1 minute, or longer.

Uplifting Reading
Somewhere during my day, I find time to read. Sometimes it’s work-related, but it’s always uplifting.

Uplifting Listening
This includes music, podcasts, Hayhouse Radio, audio courses, and more. I like to listen when I make dinner. This helps keep me in a positive, optimistic, frame of mind.

EFT Tapping
This is an any-time-of-the-day, as-needed, practice. EFT Tapping is perfect for releasing anxiety, tension, fear, sadness, or any other unwanted feelings that might creep in. Click here for an illustrated guide for the tapping points.

More Gratitude
Gratitude is something that can be expressed in many ways throughout the day. In addition to my 5-minute gratitude meditation, I enjoy spontaneous moments of gratitude, or write a gratitude list, or a thank you note, or simply say thank you, thank you, thank you as I do something that brings me joy. Gratitude helps me feel more connected to the spiritual world. And, the more grateful I am, the more I have to be grateful for.

Nature Walk
Nothing better for pleasing the senses and soothing the soul.

Enjoy! And reach out — let me know what works for you!

Love,

Marian

To schedule a FREE 30 Minute Call, where I’ll help you get clear on your best strategy to honor your sensitivity, and give you a tool to turn it into a superpower, click here.

With all that’s happening right now in the world, I’m actually finding it easier to feel grateful for what I have. This good, since gratitude is something I use to lift my spirits and optimism.

Frequently, during my meditations, I envision my negative feelings, habits, and beliefs, as gems, hidden in the dark. Sometimes, I envision a friendly group of light-beings with a spray bottles of love, misting me with unconditional LOVE.

Always, during these meditations, I feel a sense of gratitude for my dark places. I shift into a new perception of the deeper meaning of my feelings and habits. Afterwards, I often notice a change in my behavior and life experience.

What I noticed recently, was an ability for me to feel gratitude for some of my ‘faults’ but not others. In other words, I could easily send unconditional love to some of my dark places, but not others. I found myself automatically justifying my negative judgement of certain behaviors or habits, while easily forgiving others. This new perception is now helping me let go of crusty, old self-judgements I took for granted.

And, yeah, okay, some things in life really suck. And it’s not that I want to bury things, or pretend everything’s okay when it’s not (been there, done that, doesn’t work.) Rather, I believe that it’s important to first acknowledge the pain, and then to find gratitude.

This is not a head-thing. It’s not a matter of deciding to be grateful and waiting for it to happen. It’s not a matter of pretending to be grateful. It’s not about ‘shoulding’ yourself to be grateful.

This is about finding gratitude. Finding hidden gems in dark places. Going on a treasure hunt right smack in the middle of the places you’d much rather avoid.

Here are some questions that will assist you in finding gratitude in the dark:

PHYSICAL PAIN OR ILLNESS – When I found gratitude for my own illnesses and heart surgeries, I was able to see how they had enabled me to deepen my spirituality. From my physical pain, I was able to learn what I needed to heal emotionally. In addition, I met wonderful people, learned how to receive love, got really healthy, and on and on and on.

Helpful Questions: What is this illness/pain telling me? What am I learning that will help enhance my life? What enjoyable experiences am I having as a result of this illness?

PERSONAL QUALITIES — My sensitivity always seemed to be a weakness. I was prone to feeling hurt and misunderstood. I was constantly being worried about other people’s feelings and opinions. When I began to find gratitude for my sensitivity I saw all of its incredible qualities: Deep understanding for my clients, strong intuition, compassion for humankind, and so much more. This gratitude helped me let go of so much of the pain.

Helpful Questions: How is this quality helping me be the person I want to be? How did this quality help me navigate a difficult time? How can this quality help me understand myself more deeply?

CURRENT LIFE SITUATIONS: It’s can be really tough to feel grateful for tough times. I’ve found however, that it’s my gratitude that helps shift my situation. For example, by feeling grateful for ‘lean times’ I can see all the ways in which I am not a victim, and how I can actually use the situation to strengthen myself and learn new helpful habits and skills.

Helpful Questions: How is this situation helping me change what needs to change? How is this situation deepening my spirituality or inner strength? How is this situation teaching me something valuable for my future?

CURRENT GLOBAL SITUATIONS: Okay, sometimes it might feel downright impossible to feel grateful for a dictator, an environmental disaster, human rights violations, or political disarray. Without condoning, or excusing anything about what seems unacceptable, you can find gratitude for what happens as a result. For example, finding gratitude for new revelations, new innovations, grassroots efforts, or a deeper understanding of the human condition. Despite my own upset over the current political climate in the USA, I am grateful for my growing ability to discern what’s truly valuable to me, and to speak out more vocally.

Helpful Questions: How is this situation causing positive ripple effects? How could this situation lead to new innovations? How has my awareness changed as a result of this situation? What can I do to help?

Experiment with gratitude in unlikely places.

In Love and Gratitude,

Marian

For a free EFT Tapping Audio, Overcome Your Fear of Shining, click here.

Daily Practices for Focus, Peace, & Joy

Finding Gratitude in the Dark