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In the midst of COVID-19 quarantine (AKA – the ‘rona), I am finding myself to be quite the moody little Cancerian. As an empath, the news and social media drains me when I come across the not-so-hopeful statistics and articles. I am trying to prevent myself from lazy scrolling and motivate myself each morning to be productive. Of course, I’ve taken a few detours into the land of Tiger King and Little Fires Everywhere from time-to-time, but overall, I’ve found the process outlined below helpful.

If you are working from home, I am sure you too have quickly learned not only the importance of social interaction (Zoom anyone?). I am also learning the value and necessity of checklists and routines in order to accomplish necessary tasks at hand and keep myself motivated. This journaling practice helps stimulate my own mind, body, and spirit. Since COVID-19 forced me into working from home, I’ve been writing Morning Meditations and Evening Reflections. I’ve outlined my process below. You can certainly tweak the format– I’ve seen some other lovely accounts with excellent ideas on pinterest, instagram, facebook, and reddit.

WAKE UP (cue Arcade Fire)

Tarot Card of the Day & Reflection

For those of you who don’t already know, I am a huge fangirl of Biddy Tarot. If you are new to tarot or just want to improve your practice, her website and social media contain a plethora of resources. This year, I am using her planner and The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Reading for my morning practice.

1. You first want to channel your energy into the tarot deck. Shuffle the cards. Knock on the top of the deck and ask a question. If I can’t think of anything I want to focus on specifically, I often ask, “What do I need to focus on today?” or “What do I need to know today?”
2. Draw Card and consider what it means to you.
   • If you are newer to tarot, you can read description if you don’t already know the meaning. Many tarot decks now come with handbooks, but there are several websites you can utilize as well.
3. Reflect – write about what you think that card means to you in relation to the question you asked or what you were thinking about when you flipped the card. Take that energy into your day.

Morning Musings:

1. Visualization: Think about how your ideal day would look. Visualize what you hope you accomplish and how you hope to feel. Pretend as though you’ve already accomplished it. Write it down!
2. Use a pen or highlighter to underline or check off all of the actions you will take throughout your day.
3. Make a To-Do list. There are various methods for doing this – I start with a simple list then sometimes move into a Do Now and Do Later category. I like to use different colored pens for different types of To Dos – in the example below, my work To Do is different from my Home To Do.
4. Schedule that shit! Try to make an outline of your day with times. Using thirty-minute slots tends to work best for me personally, but obviously, this will look different for everyone.
5. As you complete your tasks, check them off or highlight them throughout the day! This is incredibly motivating and will make you want to keep going.
6. By the end of the day, you should find most of your tasks accomplished!

Evening Reflections:

I’ve always enjoyed writing about my day at the end of each day. The use of reflection questions or prompts can be incredibly helpful, especially during a time when many of us may feel like we did “nothing” during the day because we were at home all day. These are my current reflection questions during COVID-19 Quarantine. Again, you can find great journaling prompts on various social media outlets.

I do this at the very end of the night. I am able to look over my Morning Musings and feel proud of myself for getting things done. The evening reflection makes you dig deeper into your thoughts, feelings, and needs. For me, staying connected to others, the outdoors, and my own body and mind are central to my list. I also tried to add questions that force me to grow and spend time during the day cultivating the lifestyle of a creative.