Mindfulness Mondays Week 5: Self-Care For The Mind, Body And Soul

Welcome back to Week 5! This week is all about self-care, the importance of taking care of ourselves (which we all need a LOT of!) We talked about self-care in week two but we wanted to help you stay on track.

This is something that has to be practiced continuously, so try not to fall back into usual ways. Our wellness expert Laura is back to talk us through her top tips for staying on track!

Self-care is not just about baths, massages and pampering yourself it's about thinking of ways to enhance your life and making tiny sustainable tweaks

For the mind:

• Take another route to work. Not only will this change of routine create new neural pathways (brain training!), it’ll help you make even the most of mundane of tasks fresh and exciting and help you to find beauty in the simplest of things.
•  Start a compliments file. We are our own worst critic and it often takes someone else to point out your best features and characteristics. Write down the lovely things people have said and read them when you're feeling a bit down.
• Tick a task off your list. We all stress about our to-do list, when really if we made even a tiny start on it we would feel so much better. So, tackle that task that’s been lurking.

For the body:

• Get 15 minutes of sun. The vitamin D exposure will give your body a much-needed serotonin boost i.e. a release of your happy hormone. Sun deprived? You can always try this Lumie SAD Light, £76.50, for your daily dose of light therapy.
• Unplug for an hour. Switch everything to aeroplane mode and free yourself from the constant pings of social media and email. This is when you can truly relax.
• Take a quick nap. Not that we need any more encouragement, but ten to twenty minutes can reduce your sleep debt and leave you feeling revived.

For the soul:

• Make a small connection. Have a conversation with someone you would usually just walk past. When you genuinely listen and connect to someone, they feel seen and you can see their eyes light up. This selfless act makes you feel pretty good too as you know you are making someone else’s day a little bit brighter.
• Splurge a little. Buy a small luxury as a way of valuing yourself. This could be something big or small. Not a Glossy? Treat yourself and subscribe from just £10 a month.
• Stroke a pet. Having a pet is scientifically proven to improve your mental health. People who have pets tend to have lower blood pressure so if you don’t have one why not borrow one?

Here's Glossybox's very own Jess and her gorgeous dog Bailey (aka the Glossy Dog):