Rituals Archives - Susan Choi

Sleep On It

We all know the importance of sleep, but do you really?

I’ve noticed for myself when I lack sleep or am on the verge of sleep but decide to push off the need to go to bed in order to work more, my decisions and thinking lack the grounded and holistic qualities I normally would have.

Since noticing this I have put an importance around nighttime rituals with a particular focus on timing. For example:

Tea around 8:30 PM
Shutting down electronics at 9pm
Journaling/Automatic Writing if there are recurring thoughts the mind wants to analyze
Meditation for 5-10 minutes
Reading
Essential oils

You see, when you prioritize your core needs to be your best self by allowing yourself a good night’s rest, thinking becomes clearer, you become healthier, decisions aren’t so clouded anymore.

Have you ever gone to bed and woke up the next morning with a whole new perspective? Feeling lighter and ready to take on the day? Possibly even thinking quite the opposite of how you were feeling the night before? This is the importance of sleep!

I always tell myself and others, “If you’re trying to rush a decision – SLEEP ON IT”.

After all, you might just discover your need for rest and quality sleep is skewing your very own perspective on any given situation.

So give yourself the rest you deserve. It just might change your life.

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Logan Nolin on Unsplash

Friday Focus – 1/27/16

How do we want to remember our lives?

I was struck by a passage in one of the books I am reading, “The Mindful Path through Worry and Rumination: Letting Go of Anxious and Depressive Thoughts“, by Sameet M. Kumar Ph.D.

This made me think, through what lens have I been remembering my past? Through what lens am I living my life NOW? And finally, through what lens do I want to live my life in the future? At the end of the day, how do I want to remember all this?

I come back, again and again, to reminding myself of the infinite power we have within ourselves to choose our thoughts.

If your current state of being is one of anxiety, worry, fear or chronic stress, ask yourself the question – what am I predominately thinking about? Very often what we think about induces your state.

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My Top 10 Reasons for Moving the Body

It’s crazy how much we sit all day isn’t it? I don’t know about you but there are times when I get home and notice the pedometer on my device reads something below 700 steps and I literally gasp aloud and then I say something along the lines of, “WOW… I swear I was busy today…”

I’ve always known I do better when I move. Aside from the fact we are primal beings and are meant to move our bodies there’s something to be said about moving the stagnant energy within our bodies too.

I love that there’s practically NO downside of getting outside and moving your body. It goes to show how important it actually is.

Here are my current top 10 reasons for why we should move our body today:

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How I Recovered from Adrenal Fatigue Pt. 2

In an earlier post I talked about what adrenal fatigue is and provided a backstory as to how I was living my life prior to adrenal fatigue. While I thought everything was going well, the ancient wisdom within knew this way of living was unsustainable and untrue to how life is really meant to be lived.

How did I even know I had adrenal fatigue? It was first of all – the fatigue. There was absolutely no energy to do even a 20 minute walk to the nearby park! This drove me insane at the time for someone who was used to being extremely active with daily crossfit workouts and going hiking on the weekends.

What was also debilitating was the deep sense of anxiety that I had. To be honest, whenever the bouts of anxiety occurred I became so scared because I couldn’t recognize myself for feeling so lost, vulnerable, and weak.

Generally experiencing adrenal fatigue made me feel as if I was wiped clean of any power I thought I had and any sense of who I thought I was.

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How to Start a Meditation Practice

In an earlier post talking about Momentum we talked about keeping the flow of positivity alive; to catch your seedling thought of worry, anxiety, past, or future when it begins rather than continue to feed it.

Well, I thought I’d share a bit on how I like to meditate in the mornings. This varies by situations but for the most part the framework in which I set up the daily morning meditation is outlined below. I hope this helps to either start or solidify your own meditation practice. 🙂

I tend to meditate in sections. I know sounds weird but it works for me and if you have an analytical, type A personality perhaps this will work for you too. Here’s how…

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Smudging and Clearing Space

The first time I smelled the smoke of palo santo I felt an odd sense of coming home…

When I first moved to San Francisco I came across an adorable shop called Foggy Notion. Alissa, owner of the shop, carries hand made, local items from hand salves to beautiful hand made bags. While I was still in my mode of “simple living” I strayed away from any material item I didn’t necessarily need, and instead found myself in love with a tightly bound cluster of white sage. Alissa was sweet enough to burn some for me after which I fell in love.

Months later I was walking in the Mission and found myself upon a street vendor selling crystals and other eclectic items, one of which was palo santo. I lingered and went back and forth as to whether or not I should buy anything but ended up leaving empty handed.

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