DAILY ROUTINES PART II (and some Brasilian Vogue to that!)

Finally more about my daily routines! You find part one right here. It’s about a month since I wrote part one, and sometimes I’ve been thinking “I should have written this earlier”. But I’m trying not to judge myself so hard, and instead just noticing that time flies and there’s for sure been a reason, because I’ve got much closer to good routines and habits the last month. It will make it more clear and precise with some good tips. But first: my daily routines is not perfect, they’re not what I think everyone should strive for or wish for. This is me, and all I want to achieve is to inspire my readers to take their time to think about what might work for you. It might be totally different from me, and of course that’s perfectly fine. Maybe you have some tips or routines you would like to share in comments? And a short digression about comments: I answer everyone who comments on my posts, but you might not receive an e-mail about my reply? So if you comment, or have commented earlier, just head over to that post and read my reply. Just so you know… I don’t ignore your engagement!

Very short about part one: I make slow juice almost every day. Lets say about five days a week. And second I practice mindfulness, and I asked if you would like it to get its own post, and your answer was yes! So I will do that in daily routines part III. And the thought of the mindfulness part leads me to another digression: couple of weeks ago I was featured in Casa Vogue Brasil! How amazing – what a feeling! And using Google translate gave me a good laugh! Now you wonder what this has to do with my daily routines, since I’m far from getting featured in Vogue every day, ha ha! Well, the online editor in Casa Vogue Brasil, Michell Lott shared a story on Instagram where I saw a couple of screenshots from something that looked like an app for meditation or mindfulness, so I had to ask him about it. So now I use that app every day, and I’m really looking forward to tell you more about it… in part III…

Back on track again: except from juice and mindfulness I do some tasks I’ve got from a physical therapist almost every evening. There where 3-4 months I didn’t do it, it was just too much and I had a hard time to do myself good. Now I’m back on treating myself with kindness, and it does good for my back and my mind. For those who follow my stories on Instagram you have seen I’ve been swimming in a rather cold lake, a ten minute walk from our house. I used to hate cold water, but I learned to appreciate the grounding feeling it gave me – walking in the cold waves, when I was in Denmark earlier this summer. I swam several times a week after that, but now I have forgot. I know, I know, but it slipped out of my mind when I felt the autumn in the air. I hoped I would continue as it’s getting colder, but I don’t know. I will give it a thought! It won’t be on my daily routine, but maybe on my ‘weekly list’. What should (even though I try not to think ‘should’ too often) be on my daily routine is fresh air and move around outdoors. I suck at that. All the things I love the most is indoor activities, but it’s on my list of goals to be more outside and be more active. Not much, just a little more, yes please.

And now the most boring one: one hour tidying/ washing/ fixing in the house with no internet involved, ha ha. That’s a minimum to keep it nice (enough) in here. And I have discovered a problem: when I paint a room, a ceiling (I have a hallway project now, and have painting projects very often as you know) or a fence or whatever outside, this hour of fixing disappears. And it gets nasty. Well, I think it does. We all have different ‘guidelines’ to what we’re comfortable with, but when I don’t use an hour effective housekeeping a day it gets in a state which makes me stressed. And I don’t deal very well with stress. Who does really? In the long run…

Last one today and last addition to my structure list is what I call ‘main tasks’. I started that in August, and it works out very well! You know, I always have projects going on, like all of you. But it’s too many at once, so I had to sit down and find 2-3 things that had to get priority in August. I can’t just paint on canvas all the time, even that’s what I love the most at the moment! So I wrote down on my list, to remind myself every day, that it would do me good to continue on at least one of these things: get done with the painting of the outside of the outhouse, take notes from the mindfulness book I’ve read one time already, continue on a script I’m working at (going to apply for money in mid September), and I also put one thing in brackets – (paint the hallway and stairs). So… wanna guess what I’ve done most of the time? (paint the hallway and stairs)… And together with all this I do things that’s pure joy and flow too, like making paintings… photograph and edit…. write this blog and feed you on Instagram… make music sometimes (been a little off that after our second album was released, it’s like I need a brake after we’ve worked so intense)…

Oh, there’s one more thing on my list: when my daughter is here (about every second week) I have to turn down my expectations about getting things done. It’s more important to do mindfulness practice and paint on canvas, then to try to keep everything clean and get done with the painting outdoors at the same time. If I’m stressed I’m not a good person to be around. And I want to be good to be around…