• The way that you receive dopamine first thing in the morning is the way that you will crave it for the rest of the day. For instance, opening your eyes to your phone and receiving validation will have you searching for the same phone validation all day. Breaking the morning habit is key to breaking the habit throughout the day. 

• While meditating, with your eyes shut, look into the middle of your forehead and concentrate on your breaths. Even if your mind isn’t completely clear during the meditation, being still with yourself is equally important.

• If meditation is hard for you, pick a mountain, the ocean, or the forest and picture that scenery in your head instead of trying to see nothing. Have your breath go along with the swaying of trees, or the waves of the ocean.  

• Clean your space before you go to bed. Waking up to an organized and clean space will allow you to think more clearly. 

• Give yourself permission to feel. So many times we look for the easiest way to numb our mind to avoid our feelings. Allow yourself to feel those feelings instead of seeking distraction. This is your first step to welcoming healing.

• Eat good food. I am a firm believer in not depriving myself from food that I enjoy. However, I realize that I feel more alert, and better all around when I am proud of the food that is going into my body. 

• Watch the way that you talk about yourself to other people. Talking down about yourself to others is unknowingly giving them permission to perceive you that way. Only talk positively about yourself to others and if you need to vent make sure it is with people that you trust. 

• Be bored. I recently watched a TedTalk that said our generation doesn’t know how to be bored because we just constantly distract ourselves with Netflix or our phone. Being bored is when your best ideas come into fruition. 

• Take cold showers in the morning.

• Put on good smelling lotion before bed. I don’t have any science behind this, but it feels good. 

• Surround yourself with people that you can bring into any room with you.

• Consult yourself first. Before picking up your phone to tell a friend, before making an impulse decision, make sure that YOU are okay with it, because you are the one who has to sit with it. 

• Call the people that you love, and call them often. Over the past couple months I have made reminders in my phone to call specific people that I love. This sets aside a time and holds me accountable.

• Talk nicely to yourself. Put a little reminder in your house somewhere where you see it. Whether its affirmations, a baby picture or a sticker, remind yourself that you are great. (In my bathroom I have a sticker that says “proud of me” stuck to my mirror.)

• Put rosemary oil on your scalp the night before you wash it.

• Write down your happiest days, memories, and achievements to look back on when you feel down. 

• Ask yourself “what would your future self do?” and then make that decision. The second we start acting like the future self that we admire, is the second that we become her.

• Be kind to people. Whether it’s saying something nice to someone in the elevator, or giving a stranger a compliment. We never know what other people are going through and simple kindness goes a long way.