When first embarking on a spiritual journey it can be difficult to navigate the sea that is wellness advice. How can you improve your health? What are the best ways to meditate? What subjects should I dive into? Where do I start to develop myself?

There are many questions and a ton of different answers. Everyone has different experiences, therefore they know what is best for you too. This is not true. This is your life. This is your experience. What do you choose to explore? What feels right for you?

All that aside, you have to start somewhere. That is where this list comes in. Of course, this is from my own experiences, showcasing what has worked for me. Try it out for yourself, see what resonates with you.

1. Me-time

In my opinion, putting off time for yourself is the most important thing you can do. In the world we live in there are so many influences and distractions. Friends and family that tell you what you should and shouldn’t do, people on the internet telling you what you should do, plus your own mind (Ego) discussing what is best, and so on. It’s easy to get lost in a world that craves your attention and your approval. So now it’s time to rediscover yourself again.

That is why me-time is so important. Practicing to let go of everything and everyone that tells you who you are and what you should do. This is where you decide for yourself. This is where you recalibrate and syncronize with oyur own sense of self. It works best if you take some time out in nature, free from distractions. Just take care of yourself. Take a trip somewhere, or make sure you are alone in your house for some time. Any amount of time is helpful. Preferably a few days, a weekend, or maybe more. It all depends on you, but even just a few hours is better than nothing.

Be in your own energy, dance, sing in the shower, run around naked, sit by the fire, whatever floats your boat. This will feel liberating, and it’s the ultimate self-care. You do you, no matter what that might mean for you.

2. Meditation

Of course, meditation is on this list. When you can’t seem to find that weekend off to get some me-time, this is the next best thing. Me-time in shorter intervals. Taking that time for yourself, being in your own energy, with your thoughts and your emotions. If you don’t know how, I encourage you to check out my post about meditation and mindfulness.

Practicing mindfulness and meditation is one of the best things you can do for yourself in terms of self-development. You gain insight into who you are and who you are not. You train yourself to not get so emotionally invested in negative matters, in other words, staying objective towards your own thoughts, and towards events outside of yourself.

3. Limiting the time you spend with people that drag you down.

Number three on my list is to limit time spent with people who tell you what to do, tell you that you are wrong, and try to tell you who you are. Drawing forth emotions of not being good enough, regretting past actions, and having a feeling that you have to please them in order to gain their approval. Of course you can gain valueable lessons from people with more life experience, but at the end of the day you have to experience this for yourself, and making your own choices.

This can be friends talking about your negative traits, trying to push you down and feel bad about yourself, or it can be family members or your significant other. You will recognize this yourself. Then it’s up to you. Do you endure? Do you stand up for yourself? Do you limit the time you spend with them? Or do you cut them out of your life completely? The choice is up to you. This will create independence and more self-worth, giving you the inner confidence you need.

Of course it’s painful to cut someone out of your life, for both parties, but ultimately it might be necessary. It will feel like removing emotional chains that you have been carrying around for maybe your whole life. It will feel the same way if you stand up for yourself, and refuse to take any bullshit that doesn’t belong to you.

4. Journaling

Journaling can be an excellent addition to your daily/weekly routine. Taking the time for yourself just like with meditation to sort and organize your mind. Writing down impressions from your day or your week. Positive and negative, anything that sticks out that you want to get down on paper and out of your mind. Just feeling that release in your energy, like a weight has been lifted. Making room for new impressions and topics of internal discussion.

Moreover, it’s a great way to see your own progress over time. Reading through your life, making mental notes and reminding you of things you might have forgotten. Seeing how much you have grown in different areas, and noticing where you might have been missing something. It’s like having a puzzle of your own life. Evergrowing, everchanging. You always spot something new, and somewhere you might find the missing piece you have been looking for.

You can challenge yourself, and set up goals for the future you. You can write down what you want to manifest for yourself, affirmations that you want to embody, and so on. The possibilities are endless.

5. Reprogramming your mind

Everyone has subconscious and conscious programs, if you recognize it or not. Patterns and habits you have created for yourself, or been given by someone else. If you watch the news every day, you’ll be programmed to think negatively and stay in a fearful mindset. Always thinking that something bad will happen. Ways of thinking have been implanted in your mind by the school system. Learning to think in a certain way, solving problems in a certain way, always staying inside the box. Behavioral patterns learned through your upbringing, OCD, negative thought patterns, predictions of the future based on the past… You get the idea.

You run all of these programs every single day. Mostly without even thinking about it. Turning on an autopilot that creates the same lessons, the same emotional responses, the same experiences, until the patterns are recognized and altered. If that ever happens. This is how you get caught in a loop, and life feels monotone, repetative, and boring.

It’s not easy to reprogram the mind. It’s something that is built over the span of years and your entire life. This will be like finding an old computer that is broken and outdated, deciding to completely restore it to peak condition. You have to learn to recognize the negative patterns you have, internal and external, rewriting it every time it shows up. At least bringing awareness to this program, and being conscious of what you are doing. At the same time ask yourself if this is something you want to continue with, if not, replace it with something you do want.

Instead of “Argh, I can’t do this” try; “I know I can do this, this is nothing!”. If something shitty happens in the world, maybe that was something that had to happen, it will create change for something better. “I Have to align all the remotes lying on the coffee table”; “Why do I HAVE to do that? It’s meaningless…”. “The neighbor is having a loud party again, what a goddamn a-hole”; The neighbor probably has a lot to deal with, so he has to create a distraction. I’ll ask him to turn it down if it gets too bad”.

There are so many ways to reprogram your mind, and there are so many ways that you have been programmed which makes it difficult to wrap ones head around it. So do your best, and practice staying aware of your patterns.

These are my top five picks of habits for growth. They are a baseline, but also very expansive. You will most likely work on these for the rest of your life, but that’s because it’s an ongoing process. It will get a lot easier once you get the hang of it, and create a habit of doing these things. Of course you might not want to take up all of them at the same time, or maybe you want to replace some of them. Test it out for yourself.

I’m not so big on journaling, but it’s something I do maybe once a week. All the others I practice every day, and I’ve seen some great progress over the years. Staying positive and optimistic, not blatently looking at things as “good” or “bad”, knowing that experiences that come my way is there for a reason, knowing that I create my own reality through my thoughts, emotions and actions. There are a lot of people that have disappeared from my life, and there is no one that i really miss. Plus I don’t care what other people think I should do, and I’m not taking any shit that doesn’t belong to me. I can always improve, and that’s why I’m on this lifelong journey.

I’m always testing out new things for myself, seeing if they work for me, and if I experience any growth from doing it. As you go on there will always be new things to try out and include in your regiment. So have fun, explore, and transform!