These are some of my favourite ways to ensure my moments of self-care are intentional and transformational being a busy working mum.

Elevating your personal development journey, particularly mental and subconscious shifts, has the potential to change your life - by changing the way you think about yourself, how you react to your environment, and the direction you choose to act upon.

Being Unrealistic

We all know how powerful our own thoughts are, let alone the impact of our choice in words - but don’t fall into the trap of believing that enhancing these are simple.

In the same sense, simply pulling a card from a beautiful affirmation deck and just reading it once, unfortunately won’t revolutionise your life on its own (dang, I know. I wish it was that simple!).

So where does the transformational mindset lie?

Your transformation exists where you tap into your intuition, you nurture her, and then allow her to unleash all the blockages that have piled on over time.

How to avoid: Affirmation Cards are a powerful form of guidance to the answers already within you. You don’t need a quick fix, you need to give yourself permission to grow into the power already within you (which is what affirmations help guide women to achieve)!

Being Inconsistent

Being committed to your self growth, expansion and healing is a must-have for feeling strong and beautiful from within… so invest time and energy into it!

Give yourself ample time to unwind, let go of what’s on your mind and be present in the message you are receiving.

How to avoid: Be intentional with your time with yourself. Try setting the scene by going to a place of comfort or peace for you, and create a ritual that you will enjoy to help you stay consistent with your self-care practice.

Not Reflecting on Your Affirmations:

Reflect and ponder… the act of reflection takes time and energy so why do it?

If you think about it, most if not all, affirmations sound great on the surface. They might sound powerful or give you a momentary sense of ‘wow’... then you forget it. It’s the forgetting it we want to avoid here - WE WANT IMPACT!

If you read an affirmation on the surface level, yes it may sound nice and powerful… but to stop it going in one ear and out the other (aka to generate a mindset change within yourself) reflection is key!

Reflection, or simply a momentary pause to ponder, gives you an opportunity to understand the intricate workings of your mind. This could be your triggers, emotions and your reactions - so much juiciness waiting for you to unpack, transform and harness!

How to avoid: Are you a journaling lover? If so, it is great to incorporate your affirmation as a journal prompt. Don’t love journaling? Present your selected affirmation card in a prominent position in your home to prompt you to mentally revisit the message of guidance. It is often at the least expecting moments, that it all will ‘click’ and give you that ‘ah-ha’ moment.

Loren’s Bonus Tip: If the card’s message lands in an interesting way, ask yourself the question why it’s landing that way… or if you think it's an amazing card you will start to live your life by it, pause and ask yourself why you aren’t already doing it already… Looking for emotional blockers or limiting beliefs within yourself can be a surprising task of unpacking in itself.

Not having relevant affirmations:

Creating self-care rituals that are intentional and based on your needs is super important. For example, in a moment where you need healing and reassurance, it won’t be helpful to have a hyper-positive and energetic affirmation. It firstly won’t sit well or have the benefit intended, and secondly, it will leave a bad taste in your mouth turning you off that form of self-care.

Affirmations and words of guidance are powerful, it’s important to select a deck of cards that are written intentionally and aren’t filled with generic inspirational quotes.

How to avoid: Tune in to your inner voice before creating a self-care ritual… you may be surprised at what she tells you.

• Are you feeling like an era of recentering guided meditations where you intuitively pull a card from the Recenter Her deck, or
• a walk in nature with a stop to do some journaling using the Remind Her card of the day as a prompt, or
• re-reading your chosen card from the Empower Her deck before blasting tunes and cooking a nourishing meal?

At RH we know you are incredible, so give yourself permission to evolve and create moments of pause, self nourishment and let the words on the card sink in.