I'll be honest, recently I've been feeling like a bit of a fraud. In my bios, my blog description and online something I go on and on about is intentional living, and I've had the realization that I haven't been living with all that much intention recently. Instead, I've found myself busy, rushing around (which is crazy considering we're currently in lockdown and I've got nowhere to be), distracted and all-around feel quite chaotic. This hectic life which has been playing out for me recently, is not the life I want - so it's time to make some changes.

How I'm going to start being more mindful and living with intention:

- Get back into meditation: I used to meditate almost daily (here's a blogpost on my fave mediations apps if it's something you want to get into!) But as life got busy, it's one of those things which got dropped - but mediations can be as short as a minute, and if I find time to scroll Instagram, I can find 10 minutes each day to meditate. I know my mind feels so much clearer when I do.

- Journal, reflect: I clearly want to be crowned the queen of self-reflection because something I want to do more is to spend more time journaling. I love getting my thoughts out onto paper, it helps me feel at peace, and peace is something I'm constantly on the search for more of.

- Being more organised: I think a lot of the reason that I'm constantly feeling in a rush lately, is because I've been procrastinating, unorganised and leaving things to the last minute, which ultimately leads to things like writing blogposts the day they go live, and not feeling all that zen when doing so. Organisation feels like a key ingredient in the life I want - because when I'm feeling more organised my mind feels calmer, it makes room for the nice things.

- Spending more time in nature: One thing lockdown has reminded me of is that I like going to for walks in nature (I touch on that in this vlog). Fresh air is good for the soul. Listing to the birds singing, taking in the colour of the flowers and feeling the breeze on your skin is something quite lovely - I want to live my life with so much intention that I'm sure to spend time outdoors, and with enough gratitude, I notice these little luxuries which can sometimes fade into the background.

- Spending time away from my phone: Too much scrolling is not good for anyone. Life is to be lived, not spent comparing your lives to what the lives of strangers appear to be from what you see on an app.

- Unfollowing: What we consume is so important, and that includes the media we consume online. We also have full control over the online content we consume. I'm going to start being more mindful of who I'm following and unfollowing those accounts which don't bring me the joy, knowledge or inspiration I like to gain from my phone time.

- Actually relaxing: Something I realised I'm not particularly good at is relaxing. Sure I take the time out to relax, but often I find myself trying to multitask and get something else done rather than remaining present in the thing I'm meant to be doing to relax. Or my mind feels so busy I find myself planning to-do in what is supposed to be my chill time, which of course completely takes out the chill. Relaxing starts to feel more like procrastinating. So I want to find more ways to relax which completely consume me, and take my mind to a new place. This will include more reading, actually letting myself play the Sim without feeling guilty because it's not productive - fun is allowed, it's actually encouraged in my world, I need to remember that. I also want to find some new series to watch with worlds I can get completely lost in and fall in love with new films.


Editing is down goals and to-do lists: Sometimes I'm interested in so much, there are so many things I want to do, I end up doing a bit of everything, but not nearly enough of anything. Nothing is done as well as I want because I've too much on my plate. It's time to edit down. I'm going write  shorter to-do lists, taking out the pointless tasks, and re-asses my goals, figuring out where I want my focus to sit. I can't do everything, and it's about time I stop trying. For a while I think my Youtube channel is going to be on the back burner - running a blog, writing a book and running and making items for an Etsy store is a lot of things for one person - especially when time also needs to go into relationships, exercise, cleaning, cooking and just living. Removing filming and editing videos from my list for a while will make room to put that love in elsewhere.

Turning off phone notifications: Because let's be honest. Life feels more peaceful without them.

Headspace

Headspace was the first meditation app I ever used and where I learned the basics of meditation. The meditations are all guided by Andy, whose voice you soon become familiar with. The app is great for learning about why meditation is important, and to help you understand how your mind works. There are instructive animations which make the process of meditation and it's importance easy to understand.

There is the option of different courses on this app, from Reframing Loneliness, Creativity, Managing Anxiety and more. The courses tend to have 10, 10-20 minute meditations to complete over 10 days. There is also the option to do the meditations or view the animations as one-offs.

There is a sleep section of the app, with different sleep sounds, and meditations to wind down before sleep.

You can also add buddies and track your progress.

A lot of the features are available for free, however, to unlock all of the meditations you can either pay £74.99 per year, £9.99 weekly, or £399.99 for a lifetime.

This app has a friendly feeling to it, it's inviting and easy to use.

Happy, Not Perfect

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I'm writing the post partly to benefit my readers, and partly to remind myself.

There are certain things I have recently been trying to do every day, in order to become a little more mindful, to keep learning, and feel positive.

So, here are 12 little things I'm trying to incorporate into my everyday routine...

1. A consistent skincare routine - Whether I'm intending to stay in my PJs all day or not, I need to sure my skin is being looked after. 
2. Going outside - Even if only for a second, getting a bit of fresh air makes all the difference.
3. Reading - a book, magazine, blog post or an article, whatever I choose doesn't matter, as long as I'm reading.
4. Having at least an hour with my phone an aeroplane mode - sometimes we just need to step away from technology and stop scrolling.
5. Meditating - It only takes 10 minutes and makes a huge difference.
6. Exercising  - Of some form at least, no matter how big or small, I need to make sure my body is moving
7. Clearing any phone notifications and emails - Looking at my phone is a lot more pleasant without the obnoxious red numbers everywhere
8. Drinking plenty of water - Hydrating is important.
9. Complimenting somebody - It's nice to be nice.
10. Writing in my diary - so I can read and cringe in the years to come.
11. Eating my five a day - I mean, actually, do it. Keep track of the fruit and veg I have and everything.
12. Writing 3 things in my gratitude journal - because it's important to be grateful.