My Evening Ritual 🌙

Season of Heather recently turned 2 so I thought we’d have a blog post inspired by the very first post I wrote, My Morning Ritual. So today, we’ve got the yin to her yang (literally, yin symbolizes the night) – My Evening Ritual 🌙

On Rituals…

Just like in that first blog post, I’m still a really big fan of the word ritual. To me, it really helps to create a container for me to mindfully check in with myself and to make sure I’m creating time in my evening for the things that inspire me, relax me, make me feel more grounded and connected to myself. These rituals, day and night, help me to feel more full and live more presently.

Here is my evening ritual as of late…

Study Sesh 🤓

I love learning. The evenings are when I typically try to squeeze some learning in. I create better in the day time and I learn better in the evening, so this is what works for me.

This normally involves reading, googling, making notes to refer back to and sometimes listening to a podcast on the topic I’m trying to learn more about. Lately I’ve been studying birth and astrology a lot, but I also recently started to dive into some herbalism. Never stop learning!

Reading 📚

While I do read while I study sometimes, this reading part of my evening ritual is more about leisure reading.

Sometimes I’ll read in the bath, other times at my desk, outside on the back porch, cozied up on the couch or in bed. I read somewhere different almost every night. The whole point of a ritual is to work with it, mindfully. So, I ask myself what would feel the best right now. Also, if you need something to read check out my seasonal book club.

Glowy Lights and Candles ✨

I try to keep it as glowy as possible in the evening once the sun goes down. It helps me feel more relaxed and its just SO COZY. I recently got my new nook (aka my cozy office) set up in the new house, but it just wasn’t feeling right…… and then I hung up christmas lights and it felt magically cozy and perfect. Also, I light a lot of candles. You gotta set the mood! So the sun goes down and the glow comes out!

Mirror Work

Ya’ll may remember my post a while back about mirror work. Basically its a self-love practice that involves looking at yourself in a mirror. While it may sound overly simple or even a little awkward, I promise the results are powerful.

I hadn’t done mirror work in a while, but was feeling like I needed it again, so I’ve been sprinkling it into my evening ritual, just 5 or so minutes here and there and it’s been so good for me.

What I love about mirror work is you really just see yourself and connect to yourself and as you do, walls that you have just start coming down, negative self talk becomes harder. Shame that you might feel around your short comings or body image begin to melt away a little bit more each time and you start feeling deep love for yourself.

A Long Steamy Bath 🛁

Sometimes my evening ritual evolves slightly throughout the seasons, but baths are a staple.

Baths feel sacred to me. The bath is my favorite form of medicine and makes me extremely relaxed and content. Don’t underestimate the power of a good soak!

Look at the Moon 🌜

I love the moon. It’s just so magical and beautiful. I try most nights to take a peek at her if she’s out. I use the “The Moon” app to check and see what phase it’s in and to check moon rise time.

I’ve also been setting some intentions with the new moon, a little new moon ritual if you would (rituals on rituals ☺️) and I’ve been loving it. I’ll probably share more about this in the future, but basically, you set intentions with the new moon (when you can’t see it). And as it slowly wanes and waxes you have a literal sign in the sky reminding you to check in with your intentions. It’s really beautiful.

Warm Evening Beverage ☕

My day starts with a warm beverage and it typically ends with one too. Lately I’ve been loving Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepy Time Vanilla tea on nights when I want to keep it simple and light. On nights that I’m looking for something a little more substantial, I’ll make a caffeine-free latte. Lately I’ve been loving golden milk lattes.

Prepare for Dream World 😴

You might be like is that just her cute way of saying prepare for sleep? Yes and no, I do actually do prep for going into my dreams and remembering my dreams. I’ve been working with my dreams for about a year and a half. They provide me a deeper insight to my psyche and provide guidance for me. And aside from all that, I just find dreams and dreamworld ultra fascinating.

So, to prep, I set my alarms and then open up the notes app on my phone and go to the section I record my dreams and I put that nights date and then leave it open so that way when I open my phone it reminds me if I forget. Then I say a little mantra about remembering my dreams when I wake and then I go to sleep.

The Magic of Rituals 🌟

If you’re starting a ritual, whether morning or night, remember to really tap into yourself and ask yourself what do you really need in that moment from your ritual? You can definitely have staples, but make sure to allow some flexibility in your rituals to really give yourself what you need most.

As long as you are slowing down to really ask yourself what you need and then giving yourself that, then you’ll be nailing a ritual no matter how it looks from day to day, because thats where the magic of a ritual lies, in the connecting to yourself. It less about the actual activities and more about the intentions behind them and creating the space for yourself to find yourself, day in and day out or in this case, night in and night out.

Cheers to the magic of rituals, glowy lights and cozy robes,