BWYP EP 04: Creating a Donation Routine to Attract Abundance

Hello, World!

Hey!  I made this blog post especially for Episode 5 of my podcast, Bloom Where You're Planted.  You can also find it in your podcast provider or on my podcast page.

Whether you agree with me or not, you probably won't change my mind: I think there are laws & principles in place that bring the universe to flow things into our lives.  It doesn't happen all the time, and its definitely not a "get-rich-quick" scheme, but think of the last happy coincidence you had!  Did it feel like you tapped into a little bit of magic, or did this little coincidence maybe make you believe in fate? That's what I'm talking about.

I love that feeling of magic and I'm all about chasing it, but putting yourself into a position to receive is a really big part of that.  I've recently realized that if you're filling your space with stuff you don't need, you're making it clear that you don't have the space in your life for better things to flow in. 

If that seems like a little bit of a stretch to you, maybe think about it like this:  Why am I surrounding myself with excess and things I don't love when I could donate them and let them really improve someone's life?

I'm interesting in starting a habit.  A monthly donation date with myself.  I know I have tons of excess, and no, I don't want to do it all in one day.  I just don't work that way. 

Instead, I'm doing it every month, and making it the most wonderful, blissful experience I can.  It's tempting to turn organization into a task to hate, but in an effort to love myself even through tasks I don't like as much, I'm making my favourite tea, getting comfy af, and listening to my favourite music.  I'll also be taking my time, to really leave myself time to reflect on the impact on my actions.  Not only will I be cleaning and organizing my house, but i'll be donating to people in need while making room for abundance in my life.

So here's what my day's going to look like:  Wake up, have my morning routine, get started with my donating and sorting around, and when I'm feeling "done," I'll head into town and make the donation at my recipient of choice.  

There are a few things I'm going to do to help me out with this task, though.  Luckily, I'm someone who already finds purging and decluttering easy, but if you're someone who dreads going through old things and donating them, this is for you.  Especially if you've been feeling stuck lately. 

My first strategy is to have a small donation pile going in my room at all times so I can throw something in there if the mood strikes (sometimes, folding laundry, I'll come across something so worn that I refuse to fold it and put it away. Into the bin it goes!) And I also have a pile going in our spare room for larger donations if I see them on a day that isn't donation day.  

My second strategy is perfect if you're really feeling stuck.  My free download with this podcast episode is a printable checklist of 20 no-brainer things you can declutter right away!  You don't have to follow this to a t, but look it over if you're really feeling stuck.  This list shouldn't lead you to throw away beloved possessions, but it might make you look at your linen closet a little different.  You can download the list below!

Here are some things I'm going to do to make this as enjoyable as possible, because peaceful productivity is all about getting things done as you love your life as much as possible.  I'm going to make sure I'm comfy in my favourite comfy outfit (which is luckily, my favourite sushi eating outfit as well), I'll make a pot of my favourite tea so my cup runneth over, and I'll listen to whatever I feel like (my favourite music, a funny podcast, whatever tickles my fancy).  When I'm done, I'm going to go into town and make the donation, then treat myself to a solo, unplugged sushi date.  My favourite.  Also, this is important:  the whole time, I'm going to make an effort to focus on how good it all feels.

By making this experience as enjoyable as possible, I'm going to fill my brain with good memories that make me subconsciously want to repeat the experience.  I'll also make an effort to make myself actively excited as I approach my second date to try to kickstart that mental momentum.

Are you going to try out a donation routine?  Tell me all about it in the comments, I'm really curious to see how this impacts the lives around me.  You can also get in touch with me on facebook or instagram.  If you're a fan of the podcast, please let me know!  It's such a new project and its so special to me that this early support feels like 1,000 warm hugs.

Lots of love!

Andrea

How I Use My Bullet Journal to Manifest my Perfect Morning

This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission if you use them.  I only ever recommend products that I know and trust.

As I've gotten older, I've become increasingly aware that my life will be as joyful as I make it.  Period. 

I don't think that I'm the first one to have this realization, so I hope you know what I'm talking about when I say that it's not really quite that simple.  Being in charge of your own happiness isn't really as straightforward as it sounds; it's a lot of trial and error, of prioritizing and reprioritizing, and observing yourself as you and your desires grow and change. 

My main tool through this process has been my bullet journal.  By organizing and writing down my plans and my life, it's easy to quickly look at my schedule and see if I'm really prioritizing what is most important and beneficial to me.  It holds me accountable to both include more things that bring me joy and exclude things that make me overwhelmed or anxious, and it’s customizeable enough that I can design special pages around specific goals or trends.  It's like having a reference book and agenda in one. 

Recently, I did a special spread detailing my ideal morning, in an effort to make my life a little more peaceful.  I love mornings and have no problem getting up early, so in my effort to redesign my life, it's no surprise that I started there.  I decided that even though my days can vary lots from day to day, that I wanted this exercise to serve as the basis for a new, daily routine that I could do, regardless of whether or not I'm working that day.

Yep, my bullet journal has pencil lines.  I stress about it being perfect, and you shouldn't either!

I've noticed a really nice shift.  By getting specific about all of the things that make my ideal morning, including a timeline (this should really only serve as a guide!  Don't stress yourself trying to follow this too closely), I'm able to clearly visualize what my ideal morning looks like.  I'm not stressing, I'm not worried about fitting my timeline, and sometimes I don't get everything done on my list, but in general, I've been able to attract & manifest a new, peaceful morning routine into my daily life.

My life isn't always perfect, and of course, things come up, but adding so much more peace and good vibes into my life has really helped take the edge off when things do go wrong.  It's nice to be able to step back and react from a place of calm instead of panic when things go wrong, I even find that there's usually a better chance of saving the situation that way.

But before we get started, I've gotta let you know that I'm holding a free 5 day email challenge January 1st to 5th that will teach you how to bullet journal from start to finish!  If bullet journaling is really piquing your interest lately, this will be a really chill, step-by-step way to learn the ropes and start designing your best life.  You can sign up to join the challenge below!

And in case you're stuck on where to start, this is the bullet journal I use (but there are tons of options!  Just check out Amazon!) and in terms of pens, try find one that won't bleed on to the back of your pages. 

Leuchtturm Notebook A5 Soft Cover Dotted Black

Now, I'm going to share with you exactly how I got super specific about my ideal morning and how it helps me shape my perfect day.

First, I had to eventually realize that when my mornings flowed easily, the rest of my days did, too.  I'm someone who likes to get a lot done in the morning, so a really laid-back morning wasn't a good option for me, but neither was a super rushed morning where I finished my routine sweaty and overwhelmed at 9 am.  Since I'm an early riser anyways, I decided to  get up a little earlier to give me some padding, which is probably the most important part to this whole thing.

After I came to this realization, I had some steps ahead of me.

1. Write down a checklist of everything you have to and want to do in the morning
2. Find a great Ideal Morning tracker on instagram, pinterest or make your own!  (You can use mine too if you'd like!  It was inspired by this post)
3. Fill in your tracker!  I find that being as specific as possible is the best way to do it, setting aside separate time blocks for as many tasks as possible makes it easy to fit everything in. 

When you're filling in your timeline, keep in mind that it's just a guide.  You shouldn't be stressing out every morning about following the timeline to the minute; try flowing from task to task while staying focused and calm.  Leaving white space where you can will help with this, but mindset will too.  If I'm worried about time, I'll visualize myself calmly finishing everything I have to get done, and it really helps me flow more easily through my morning.

I really hope this was a good resource for you, and if this post gets you closer to your ideal life, can you comment about it?  I'd love to know!

Exploring: Smudging, Sage and Space Clearing

If you've read any of my "exploring" posts, you know that this is just my thoughts and opinions at the very early stages of exploring this.  Some of my ideas might be a little half baked or not fully formed, and I hope that's ok.  I'm writing in pencil and I promise to share as I go, but please, if you feel I need redirection please (kindly) do so in the comments.  I'm completely new to this and am sharing my first experiences and early resources in an effort to encourage anyone who might be too nervous to push themselves in that direction.

With that little disclaimer out of the way, I'll start with saying that I feel like I'm growing into a new form of myself.  I've always been spiritual, so this curiosity isn't what's new to me; it's the confidence I feel in exploring new, exciting things that makes me feel as though I've shed some sort of past skin.  I've been curious about smudging for years, especially in regards of clearing bad energy (instead of spirit), but the roadblocks I put in my own way simply fell away last month, leaving me primed and ready to explore it.  It's a good feeling, letting go of past baggage and stepping into new interests. 

For the past year my boyfriend and I have talked at length about the energy in our house feeling very weird.  We have an unusual layout to our floor plan and we’re both pretty invested in making our house really feel like a home base moving forward.  This has involved a lot of moving stuff around, painting, planning and effort.  I've explored some introductory Feng Shui and feel that it helps with the flow of the house a lot, even the boyfriend says the house feels like it has "good energy." So, I was browsing The Spruce (linked below with the resources) and I found an introductory article about smudging your home.  I'd always thought it was this super complex process, but I found a lot of information in a single blog post!  I was hooked, but I didn't want to lose momentum.  I set a strict amount of time that I would let myself research before either dropping it altogether or actually dipping my toes and trying it (I don't need more things to fixate on that never amount to action thankyouverymuch) and needless to say, I jumped right in after my deadline.  I didn't want to get stuck endlessly researching, I wanted to move forward and see if this would have a noticeable effect on our home!

Here’s some of the research I found that helped me get started.  Like I said, I didn't let myself get too caught up in research because I didn't want to get stuck in the process.  I left myself enough time to get a good grasp on how to get started, and that was it.   While I plan on continuing to learn about it, this is by no means exhaustive research.

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-smudge-your-house-1274692

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-smudging-1275274

https://www.yogiapproved.com/life-2/everything-you-need-to-know-about-smudging/

I followed the steps I found online and set aside about 15 minutes to smudge my house.  I enjoyed the process, I kept it very quiet and contemplative.  I wanted the house to be both clean and cleansed, so I smudged after we cleaned the house really well one Sunday.  We were entertaining that week, so we gave some things extra attention that we normally wouldn't.  After I cleaned, I slowly and mindfully wafted smoke around my house (every nook and cranny) and that was pretty much it. I have to say, the house felt very fresh afterwards and was really peaceful.  We clean with essential oils, so that could have been it, but it was nice enough and easy enough that I'll definitely be doing it again.

Overall, it was a great experience.  Since I've only done it once, I can't say for sure if this will be a lifelong practice, but I really enjoyed the quiet contemplative nature of the whole thing and the peaceful feeling we had in our house.  In the future, I'd like to see how other people cleanse their home and maybe be smudged myself.  I'm very interested in the whole process, though I'm not entirely sure I have all the pieces together yet. 

I'll continue to learn and explore them further, but for now it just seems a little out of reach.  My email list is the place to be if you want updates, though! And please, if you have any input, please comment below!