Morning Music

We all have had our struggles with waking up in the morning, and for me, hitting snooze has become a morning habit. This results in losing sacred morning time and starting my day rushed, ungrounded and not doing the self-love rituals I have set for myself,  such as oil pulling and meditation.

I  have decided to implement a simple practice to make waking up a sweeter process by changing my alarm to uplifting, soulful music instead of the harsh DING DING DING of my old alarm. I find that I don’t hit snooze anymore but rather lay in bed for a minute or so and listen to the song and then put my feet on the ground and get up.

Here are a few of my favourite morning alarm tracks:

Emmylou- Vance Joy (or something more upbeat, like Riptide)

Spoke the Words- WolfTide

Wear Sunscreen- Baz Luhrmann

Celebrate- Empire of the Sun

High Priestess- Active Child

Ong Namo- Snatnam Kaur

Something Good- Alt J

Any track from Rufus

This simple act, really changes the way I wake up in the morning + flows through to the rest of my day.

What plays on your morning alarm? What is your waking up practice like, please share below.

 

Lyrical Feelings

If you are a part of the new age/ spiritual/ self-help/ cosmic community (or even if you are not), you may have come across the woman/goddess that is Danielle Laporte. She is the creator of a program/ way of life called Desire Mapping.

Desire Mapping involves getting clear on how you actually wanted to FEEL in your life, rather than what you want. It is the process of letting your feelings consciously guide your day (life). As a result, decisions will be made easier, you will be more optimistic and life will just be plain better (read more here).

Danielle recently sent out a call to action that involved getting poetical, abstract + lyrical to discover your Core Desired Feelings. Below, is my adaptation. Come loosen up with me?

I want my day to feel like a leaf blowing effortlessly with the wind.

I want kissing to feel like fireworks and eating a juicy sweet cherry tomatoes that burst.

I want my next success to feel like how Cristiano Ronaldo would have felt when he signed his latest contract.

I want my body to feel like a beacon of buzzing light + strong, yet agile like a gazelle.

I want smiling to feel like the world stops for a moment.

I want my friendships to feel like an eternal sleepover at one am with endless chocolate, green tea, laughter and like my diary, where I can safely unload my mind.

I want my nervous system to feel like  a flowing magnetic river who knows what is up.

I want my neighbourhood to feel like a movie set in Hawaii combined with a sleepy beach townn

I want my home to feel like the sun is always warming it up for me and that Martha Stewart had just made dinner.

I want my integrity to feel as easy flowing down a stream and as grounded + strong as the Queen.

I want my money-making to feel as satisfying and deserving as picking a harvest of veggies after planting and nourishing the seeds last season.

I want my word to feel like trust, truth and good vibrations.

I want my laughter to feel like a volcano erupting chocolate and rainbows.

I want my mornings to feel like Melissa Ambrosini’s do every day. Purposed, grateful, healthy, getting shit done.

I want the end of the day to feel like a well-fed, content, satisfied child ready for bed but not wanting to go.

I want being of service to feel like I’ve just petted, groomed and fed 20 hungry and neglected doggies and now they are wagging their tails, smiling and drooling.

I want my challenges to feel like a cat trying to jump onto an obscure object, falling off then getting trying again to succeed.

I want my love to feel like a scuba diver discovering the depths of the unknown ocean yet like an astronaut dancing with the stars.

I want my writing to feel like the quality of a million count sheets, raw and crunchy like a carrot and flowing like a long skirt in the wind.

I want my ideas to feel like a goal and the aftermath of the supporters cheers.

How do you want it all to feel?

 

 

 

 

 

Lux List// August i

Another month has come and gone. Can you believe we’re in the middle of August already? Every month I find I have a few things i’m loving, not so much loving and thinking. Does anyone have their rituals and routines? This is the page where I sum up  my month’s little quirks. Here are my current obsessions and habits at the moment…

Copious amounts of green tea has been consumed this month.

READING: Gabi Bernstein’s May Cause Miracles. I have read it before and it truly did work wonders in my life. It is a 6-week guide to happiness based on the teachings of A Course in Miracles. I am excited to see what unfolds during the next 6 weeks.

WRITING: content for this blog (yay!).

LISTENING: My current song on repeat, that I just can’t seem to skip is by an Aussie duo Wolf Tide, titled Spoke the Words– I just can’t get enough of those ethereal vocals! Worth checking out 🙂

THINKING: I hope this blog will get followers and what will people think of me.

SMELLING: My housemate’s Pumpkin Soup! It is wafting through the apartment and I cannot wait for dinner to eat it! And all vegan too!

WISHING: I didn’t skip my yoga class yesterday. The cold definitely got the better of me.

HOPING: The real estate from my old unit does not charge bucket loads for the new carpet they have to lay down in the bedroom (fingers crossed!).

WEARING: I am loving my good old denim jacket this month, it is doing a great job at keeping out the winter chills. The denim jacket is actually my mum’s from when she was my age!

WANTING: Summer back.

CONSIDERING: getting a colonic. Yeah that should clean me out  from such unhealthy winter comfort eating! What are your thoughts?

MAKING: Vegie Head’s Mussaman Curry. Easy, vegan and delicious!

EATING: Greek Salad. I am obsessed, I get it every lunch break at work. The dressing is so yummy.

DRINKING: Green Tea. Green Tea. Green Tea. Healthy and warm.

WASTING: time watching by still watching Pretty Little Liars.

ENJOYING: the fact that I renewed my yoga membership and I am getting back into it.

WAITING: for the right time, which I am learning there is no such thing.

REGRETTING: not saying how I really felt.

PLANNING: what to do with my hair! Should I dye it or leave it au naturale?

FEELING: Lonely. Yep, I said it.

KNOWING: that this cold apartment I just moved into will be amazing when the weather warms up!

LOVING: The BOSE ipod dock that my old housemate gave me. It goes so loud!

NEEDING: to say how I really feel, what I really want and need, instead of always being worried to be myself and scared of what people will think of me.

What have you been up to this month?

 

Lost + Found + Lost + Found Again

In the past, I have been stedfast in my determination to follow the crowd.  My wanting to fit it was smothered in desperation and desire to feel accepted somewhere.  Anywhere.

Any kind of love I had for myself was pretty non-existent, so I tried to seek that love through others.  Friendships, family members, relationships.  I needed to belong.  To know I was enough.

But when we seek externally for the things we truly need from ourselves, we will always be a little lost.

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At 15, I just wanted to be “cool”.   I thought that being cool meant that you snuck cheeky drags of a cigarette behind the oval at lunchtime – so that’s what I did.  Being cool meant that you had a boyfriend – so that’s what I wanted.  Being “cool” meant that I had to be someone other than who I was.

I didn’t think I was the prettiest girl, or the funniest, or the smartest, or the most athletic.  In fact, I didn’t think anything much of myself at all.  Everyone seemed to do things better, say things better and look better.

Perhaps that’s why I loved drama so much.  I could put on an act and pretend to be anyone other than myself.

I was so caught up in who I needed to be, and who I thought everyone else wanted me to be – that I actually had no idea who I was.

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This pattern continued  into my  20s.  A lack of connection to myself.   All the importance was placed on the opinions of others.

When any attention is good attention, you know that there is so much pain underneath those layers of bravado, and that flippant “I don’t care” attitude.

Because I did care.  I cared more than anyone could imagine.  I felt like I needed to scream.  I wanted to much to be seen.  I wanted to be seen for who I really was – but how could I let myself be seen when I so lost?

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If you said jump, I’d say how high.  If you said drink it, I’d say how many.  If you said let’s go out, I’d already have my shoes on.  I didn’t value myself, why should you?

I didn’t think.  I just did.  I did it to forget.  I did it to remember.  I did it to numb.  I did it to feel confident.  I did it to please.  I did it for fun.  I did because I thought that’s what I needed to do to belong.

I was still that young little girl.  I was still so caught up in what other people thought of me.

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I remember I used to come home from a night out, and the next morning I would recall all the stupid things I did or said.  “I could have done that better”.  “I should have said that instead”.  “Perhaps I should have looked a little more like this…”  I will try better next time, I’d say.

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I don’t recall the day, and I would have no idea what I was wearing.  But I remember the feeling.  Freedom.  Elation.  Power.  Joy.  I finally got it.  I was, and always will be enough.  I didn’t need to seek outside myself anymore.  I had it already.  I was loved.  I was love.

Suddenly all those crazy, beautiful quirks I kept trying to hide, all those boxes I was trying to fit into – they were shattered.  I no longer needed to hide inside a box.  I certainly didn’t need to wear a mask.  That aching void was filled with love, compassion, gratitude and acceptance.

I accepted me.  I didn’t need anyone else to anymore.

I looked in the mirror.  “I love you Tegan.  I really do.”  And as a tear streamed down my face, I realised that I no longer needed to try.  I was home.

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We don’t need to try.  We just need to be.  To explore every avenue of who we already are.  Because inside us, are the beautiful snippets of wisdom that you’ve always been searching for.  Inside you is all you will ever need.

We don’t need to fit in.  We don’t need to try to stand out.  We don’t need to be anything more or less than anyone else.  We just need to trust in everything we already are, and to listen to that gentle, nurturing voice inside us that says “you are enough”.

It’s there.  Let it be heard.  Empower that voice to empower you.  Let it grow, let it shine.

You are magnificent.