A joyful ritual to help you welcome in the new month
I’ve written and spoken a lot before about why I don’t think we should all be waiting until the 1st of January to reflect on our progress and set new goals for ourselves. Some people do a mid-year check in, some people reflect on their achievements quarterly, but for me, having a monthly ritual really helps me to stay on track.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been conducting a little monthly ritual. On the first day of each month I make myself a strong cup of tea, light one of my favourite candles, and sit down at my kitchen table with my notebook. Then I work my way through the steps listed below, journaling to my heart’s content, and getting everything out on the page.
By the time I’m finished I feel lighter, more inspired, and more focused. I’ve also found that since committing to this monthly ritual, I’ve achieved more and had greater success than ever before. And so today, I thought I’d share my process with you.
Here’s a joyful ritual to help you welcome in the new month…
1) Write a gratitude list for the previous month
I start by writing a big old list of everything I’m grateful for from the previous month. I write down all of the happy memories, the lessons that I learned, and parts of my life that I’m feeling super thankful for.
Getting it all down on paper helps me to see what I’ve achieved, what parts of life I’m truly enjoying, and how full of joy my life already is. Plus, starting with the gratitude helps to put everything else into perspective.
2) Write a list of everything you want to let go of
The next step is to write a list of everything you want to let go of from the previous month. I include any bad habits I might have fallen into, any negative thought patterns that have been whirring around my brain, and any challenges that I’d love to leave in the previous month.
I find that writing it all down helps me to get it out of my brain and draw a line under it all so that I’m not carrying any negativity over into a fresh month. It also helps me to see where I can make positive changes to avoid these same setbacks in the future.
3) Set some goals and intentions for the month ahead
Finally, once I’ve written my gratitude list and thought about what I want to leave behind in the previous month, I start thinking about my goals and intentions for the month ahead. I think about what I want to call in from the universe, what habits I want to work on, and how I’d love to spend my time.
I set goals for both my business and my personal life, and I write them all down in a notebook so that I can check in on them throughout the month. I also sometimes think about the energy and attitude that I’d like to approach the month with and set a little intention around that too.
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There you have it, a joyful ritual to help you welcome in the new month. I’d love to hear if you have any new month rituals or routines? What would you add to this list?
