Romanticise your life
As a natural born beauty-lover, the idea of ‘romanticise your life’ speaks to my heart. It really just means having a soft awareness around appreciating the small daily moments to notice what makes life beautiful.
It’s a self-love habit worth stoking as it’s life changing, yet costs next to nothing and requires no preparation or psyching up to apply - it’s right here, right now. Romance is on tap and in endless supply.
It’s about making yourself the main character of your life, even stirring up some lovely drama and stage setting to get things going by imagining you’re in a movie scene.
Playing with daily life like this grows an awareness of how magical our existence already is. It brings new pleasure to exploring mindfulness — the practice of paying attention to the present moment and becoming more aware of our physical sensations, thoughts and emotions in a nonjudgmental way.
It also offers a sense of agency, a feeling of control over how we’re creating the way we experience life.
A soft simmer of appreciation
Mundane days make up the majority of our lives, rather than holidays and special occasions, so it makes sense to make them more delightful.
There’s joy in finding the little things that make life unique. This is a simple approach that’s not about comparing ourselves or our lives with others or striving to make things different - except through a gentle perspective shift.
If you’re not in the mood to put on rose coloured glasses, there’s nothing lost. But they are always there to make life rosier any time we want, helping us spot endless gems in previously overlooked moments.
Being present to the now becomes easier as we train our eye and other senses to detect or evoke more beauty in a low-grade simmer so it’s not another demand or burden.
Everything is sweeter with a bit of romance.
Some ideas to romanticise your life
• Burn the nice candles everyday
• Pick flowers like dandelions and snip lush wild foliage to arrange around your house
• Sip your favourite hot drink like coffee, chai or matcha in the sun, close your eyes and engage all the senses
• Have a bath with all the trimmings - candles, crystals, essential oils and music
• Wear a flowing robe as you do daily tasks
• Dine by candlelight (even if it’s baked beans)
• Admire the colourful light reflecting off bubbles while washing dishes
• Walk barefoot on the grass and connect to the earth
• Aromatise your home with candles, essential oils or by baking bread or cookies
• Water and tend to plants with a low key sense of wonder
• Play music through life’s everyday routines and sing loudly to your favourite songs
• Make your bed with fresh sheets and place crystals and flowers on your bedside tables to create beautiful vibes
• Clean as a way to make your space more harmonious and sacred
• Hear the birds as you watch trees sway in the wind
• Sit by moving water and just listen
• Luxuriate in a cat’s purring
• Wander outside before bed to admire the stars
Enjoy my loves.
Dominique xo