How To Improve Your Sleep

Ever since I can remember I have always struggled with falling / staying asleep. As a child I was always the one almost falling asleep in classes because I would of been awake most of the night before. I can never remember having a 'proper' sleeping pattern and I have spent most of my life saying "I'm tired" which i'm sure you have too if you're reading this post!

However, recently I have been taking my health a lot more seriously. As I explained in my last post (which you can read here) I have been delving into spirituality and along with that it seemed only natural that I started to look after my body aswell as my mind. I felt like to be in the correct place mentally and physically I needed to start changing the way I prepare my body for sleep.

In the past I would stay on my phone until the last second before I tried to fall asleep, I would get angry at myself for not falling asleep which in turn made falling asleep a lot harder, I often suffer from nightmares which cause me to wake up numerous times during the night & if I didn't have school or work the next day I would always stay up late and then sleep in the day after which would then totally mess up my sleeping pattern.

So, what have I been doing to try to change this?

1. Leave the phone alone!

I try to make sure that I'm off my phone atleast half an hour before I want to be asleep; now this is hard i'm not going to lie because sometimes i'll be watching YouTube or something will catch my eye and then time just seems to go so fast and before I know it it's 3am! To help with this I've started to have a little routine before I go to sleep. I make sure that I watch whatever I want to a little earlier and that way I find it easier to finish what I'm watching / doing and still manage to get to bed on time! Also, putting on your phone on air plane mode is never a bad idea to stop from getting distracted by texts or notifications, etc!

2. Meditate before bed!

One of the main reasons I've never been good at sleeping early is because my mind is always racing. As soon as I would turn off my phone my mind would try to occupy itself by thinking of everything and anything. Now every single night I try to meditate before I lie down for bed; I find this clears my mind and helps me to relax! It's also really helpful because it allows you to train your mind to be comfortable being unoccupied and I've found that really stops me over thinking before I sleep. I will either use the calm app for meditation or I will use a guided sleep meditation which are easily accessible on YouTube.

3. Think of a happy place!

Whenever I find that my mind is over thinking I will often take my mind to my 'happy place'. My happy place would be somewhere I find peaceful like the sea or near a waterfall. I imagine myself on the most comfortable bed right where my happy place is. I imagine all of my muscles relaxing and I think about how amazing my sleep is going to be. I find this so helpful when I'm finding it difficult to relax and shut my mind off. I promise if you try this you will probably be asleep within minutes - or I always am anyway! Lol!

I hope these little tips helped and I'll be sure to post some more tips in the future as I carry on trying to improve my sleep!

Hope you have a beautiful day,

Katie Ellen, x

Why I Started A Spiritual Journey

I first began delving into spirituality about a year ago. It started when I was going through a pretty rough time with my mental health and also going through some things in my personal life. I had discovered a YouTube channel called 'infinite waters' (AKA Ralph Smart who you can also view by clicking right here) and my whole perspective on life changed; I truly believe that I was meant to discover his channel.

After binge watching his videos I started to wonder how amazing life could be if I really pushed myself to become the best version of myself that I could possibly be. I decided then that I was more than ready for a change. I immediately discovered more channels like Ralph's, ordered books on spirituality and positive thinking and also started meditating every day (which I talk about in my other recent post which you can view here) and since then I've never looked back. 

I won't lie it's been quite difficult because I have / still am learning to break my old way of thinking which can be quite hard when you've been stuck in a rut for 20 odd years! But I can honestly say it's been worth every second and the difficulties are just parts of this amazing journey.

If i'm being honest before I discovered spirituality I felt like I had no purpose in life, I felt useless, worthless, depressed, anxious and at times I just didn't want to be here at all. Now I can truthfully say that I feel the complete opposite now; I know I have a purpose, I'm not useless or worthless and although at times I still do struggle with my anxiety / depression I know that I will always be stronger than they are. Now I wake up every single day so grateful to be living on this beautiful planet with amazing people and I can't believe how lucky I am to experience this life every single day. 

I can't wait to carry on sharing this journey with you all!

Have a beautiful day,

Katie Ellen. x 

3 Ways To Lead A Happier Life

I'm going to give you some tips on what changes I have made to lead a happier life. Bare in mind only a few months ago I was struggling to get out of bed because I was so depressed and now I wake up every day with a huge smile on my face and I actually look forward to every single day. I'm not saying these things will 100% work for you but i'm just going to share what helped me in hopes that it could help you too!

So, lets get started!

1.  Meditate

I will never be able to explain to anyone just how much meditation has changed my life. I use an app called Calm (which will really help you if you're a beginner!) and I couldn't recommend it enough. Due to my anxiety since I was a child I have never been able to get a full and good night sleep; my mind would constantly be thinking and then before I knew it my alarm would be going off! Whereas, now I use this app every night to calm my mind before I go to bed and it works wonders!

If you try anything from this little list please give meditation a go - It's allowed me to completely change my life around and become more positive and stress free!

      2. Distance Yourself From Negativity

If you know there are certain people in your life that cause you negative thoughts and feelings do not be afraid to distance yourself. It's time for you to be selfish and love yourself enough to create nothing but happiness for yourself. If you hate your job - look for a new one. If you don't feel loved in your relationship - leave. You are not obliged to stay anywhere that drains your energy and please believe that you are good enough for something better.

      3. Smile

I've spent so much of my life looking down at the floor I can't even begin to tell you! Before the new year I promised myself that in 2018 I would make it my mission to look around me and smile at strangers more. It's been quite difficult as doing this makes me so anxious but once I done it I couldn't believe how it made me feel. It made me feel good knowing I was a reason that someone smiled today. You really don't know what other people are going through and something as little as a smile could really brighten someone's day! Not to mention you can't see all the beautiful nature that is around you if you're stuck staring at the floor! LOOK UP! :-)

I'm going to leave this there for now but there will definantly be another one of these in the future! I really hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope it inspired you in some way!

Have a beautiful day,

Katie Ellen. x

The Start Of A New Journey

First of all I would just like to say a huge happy new year; I'm wishing everyone happiness, peace, love and luck throughout 2018 - and on wards!

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post so do excuse me while I shake the dust off!

I made a promise to myself that after taking a pretty big (and much needed) break from blogging I would start again in the new year feeling more focused and positive than ever and I definantly feel like i'm in that head space right now.

There's going to be some pretty big changes to my blog this year. Throughout 2017 I have been working so hard on myself and going through my spiritual journey. I've learnt so much about myself and I finally feel like i'm beginning a true awakening and I would really love to share this experience on my blog as well as sharing some tips I've learnt that could maybe help you too!

Of course I will still be mixing it up and there will still be all a variety of content coming to my blog. I will just be writing about whatever is inspiring me at the time! No limits!

I'm so excited to start a new journey with you and hopefully helping a lot of you along the way!

Hope you have a beautiful day,

Katie Ellen. x