Another lockdown month is over…

Unfortunately, I have to say goodbye to my April holiday plans. We are not allowed to travel abroad till at least the middle of May. This lockdown has been so so hard for me this time. But all we have to think about right now it’s a brighter future ahead of us. It will be normal again!

3 things that bring me joy

But to keep this blog post positive let me share three things that bring me joy in February.

• a few days of snow – I love warm summer… but having a few days of snow put a smile on my face. It reminds me of these snowy winters in Poland, wet clothes after hours of outside plays, hundreds of snowman’s we built, walks to school in -15 Celcius degrees. Having snow as a child is such a happy memory.

• afternoon tea for Valentine’s Day – we ordered it from Riverhead Coffee, which is my favourite cafe in my small town – a simple and delicious treat we both enjoyed so much.

• my baby niece – my sister sent me lots of photos of my newborn niece Sara and I love seeing these. She is gorgeous! I wish I could see her, maybe in a few months, it would be possible to visit my family again.

My reading challenge

In February I was continuing my 21 books in the 2021 challenge and I have read another two books.As I already mentioned, I am a slow reader, so 4 books in two months are already a success to me.

Here’s my short review:

3/21 – ‘How to think better’ by Christel Petitcollin

I read this book in Polish and I couldn’t find anywhere English version to tag, I don’t think it’s been translated yet.

Christel is a French author and her book is a collection of helpful tips for mentally overproductive and endlessly analyzing people. After the first few pages, I started questioning if this book is actually for me, but I decided to give it a go and honestly, some of her tips turned out to be great, especially in the last few chapters. This book explains how to find happiness and fulfilment in this world. It helps to understand yourself and others even better. It shows how to develop and love an extraordinary personality, and organise your surroundings in a way that makes you feel as safe as possible.

4/21 – ‘Rituals for every day’ by Nadia Narain & Katia Narain Phillips

This incredible guide would help you move through busy times in a way that feels graceful and deliberate, rather than rushed and routine. You would find in this book collection of recipes that show how to add some sweetness to ordinary days and improve quality of life. So, the way to regain our balance is to introduce rituals into our life that will make our every day take on a deeper dimension.

From this book I’ve learned that the essence of rituals consists of three stages: stopping, drawing attention and defining the intention. The rest are only extras. Also, every one of our habits can be changed to ritual, as long as we follow these three easy steps.

Here are three of my favourite ‘rituals’ from the book:

• FULL MOON RITUALS – charging crystals under the full moonlight to clean their energy has been my favourite ritual so far and I have been practising it since I got my crystals. But I also love the moon bathing ritual from this book. All you do is getting yourself out and bathe in the full moon moonlight for a few minutes, which helps to cool and calm our nervous system.

• SA TA NA MA MEDITATION – I remember that this meditation was introduced to me after my yoga group class years ago, but I wasn’t convinced to try it again till I read about it in this book. This calming and stress-relieving Kundalini meditation before bed could be something I really need in my life, so I am definitely giving it a go in March.

• MAKING AN ALTAR – I found it so inspiring and intriguing, so I created my own altar too. In a clear space of my room, I placed my crystals, my favourite quotes and other inspiring objects. Also, this is a place now where I kept my March intention written on a piece of paper and light a candle each morning during quiet ‘me time’.

You can also find in this book two small guides – 10 essential oils and 10 crystals for beginners.

If you are looking to introduce some amazing rituals to your every day and learn to appreciate the little things, this book is definitely a great beginning of this new adventure.

February favourites

Here’s the list of all my favourites from last month. I really enjoy creating these lists and I would like to know if I inspired you to try anything from my January post. If so, how did you like it?

my favourite breakfast

Last month my favourite breakfast was smashed avocado with cherry tomatoes and Piri Piri spice on sourdough bread made with wheat, rye and malted barley (bread is from Morrisons and it’s so delicious). I would love to know what was your favourite breakfast last month?

recipe I tried

Green Smoothie Pancakes, which I have tried a few months ago, but I decided to slightly change the original Cookidoo recipe. If you missed that post a few weeks ago, you can find it here – Have a delicious Pancake Tuesday.

the podcast I listened to

This interview with James Clear makes me even more to read his ‘Atomic habits’ book, which is apparently one of the best productivity books. This podcast interview was incredibly interesting and I for sure want to know more on this topic now, so his book is on my March to-read list. I have also signed to his 3-2-1 Thursday newsletter (I have no idea, how comes I have not been on that newsletter subscriber list yet!). I am going to post feedback in the next month Here and Now post.

cosmetics I recommend 

In an era of face-covering having great healthy skin is a hard job. Nanili Professional is the best choice for my skin type! These great products were recommended to me by amazing beautician Ewa.

I never have perfect skin, but thanks to those it’s so much better and clearer now. I would highly recommend them to everyone with acne, skin discoloration or oily skin.

Serum lightens skin and reduces skin discoloration, regulates sebaceous glands activity, reduces skin inflammation and soothes red irritated skin. Where cream reduces inflammation and blackheads, calms, moisturizes and makes skin smooth and it also has bacteriostatic properties.

Here a bit more info on Nanili Professional products – it’s a polish brand, but their website is also in English. These are worth the price and they are very efficient too. I’ve been using them for more than 3 months now and I don’t think I would change them to a different product any time soon!

film I watched

I am totally obsessed with the new Netflix British thriller ‘Behind her eyes’. It’s only 6 episodes, but OMG it was so good and I would never expect it to end the way it did… I highly recommend to watch it, but I would also suggest having a spare 6 hours, as you would not stop it till you see the last episode.

something I bought

I recently found a great way to help with my stress and learn som proven cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques. It’s call Cards Against Anxiety and they are a card deck with a guidebook that helps you find the way to stand up to your worries, stress and anxious feelings. They’re great to improve mood and focus, as well as help to achieve everyday calm and improve the overall quality of the life. Definitely give it a try, if you are like me, stressing over anything and everything.

March for me is going to be another Lockdown month, so I don’t really have many plans. But I am very excited about longer days and lighter evenings.

But the one thing that I really want to do is the full 30 days of Miracle Morning. The plan is to get up at 5 am each morning (including weekends) to work on my morning routine, reflect and invest energy into ‘me time’.

This is definitely another huge challenge, as I have honestly got so lazy in February and waking up so early again could be tricky. Wish me luck!

Have a great March,

Monika xx