Spring is finally here, my favourite (I think?) season. The days are longer, the birds are back, and the cherry blossom trees have started to bloom. I love these months because they feel like *bonus*. It’s not summer yet and there isn’t that pressure to make the most of the warmer weather that I feel comes with Summer. Weekends aren’t booked up with weddings, camping trips and bbqs (things I love and look forward to but get busy). Time feels on my side and I feel called to throw out the old and welcome in the new. Spring cleaning isn’t just for closets and cupboards, but for habits, mindsets and practices too. This year so far has brought with it a lot of lessons and new perspectives, all of which I’m extremely grateful for. It’s forced me to examine my mind and what I feed it, leaning ways in which I can make positive changes in my everyday life. I decided to start these monthly recaps as I way to take stock of what I have learned over the past month, while also taking note of frivolous fun things for good balance (and because sharing is caring).
Listening
– The Perfectionism Project Podcast: I have been diving deep into Sam Laura Brown’s perfectionism-focused podcast and it’s like listening to someone inside my brain. Perfectionism (basically a type of procrastination) is something I have always struggled with but have never found a way to cope with. This podcast speak about it in a way that totally makes sense to me and offers tools that I can (and have started) putting into practice. She reference the work of Carol Dweck and Brené Brown a lot, two others I’ve been studying from as well.
– One Percent Happier Podcast Episode 507: I listened to this podcast episode 3 times last month because it was so good and had me thinking about thoughts in a whole new way. In “An Episode for Overthinkers”, Dan Harris interviews Dharma teacher Tuere Sala. She talks about thinking as being a sense door, much like hearing or seeing, where it’s a way for information to enter the body, thus we are not our thoughts. It’s really helped me understanding habitual thinking patterns and that we can change them (hello, neuroplasticity). Our minds move in habit and like other habits, we can learn to change them, or upgrade the program as she describes it.
– Second Life Podcast Episode Athena Calderone: I started listening to Second Life back in 2020 and recently got back into (I tend to do that with podcasts). One of my favourite recent listens is the one with Athena Calderone of Eyeswoon. I’ve actually never followed Athena and knew very little about her (though I do own Live Beautiful) and so I really loved hearing her story. I love that she found “success” in her 30’s and hearing how she overcame not feeling like “enough” – something I can totally relate to. She’s just a very humble, relatable, inspiring, kind, talented person, and I may need to go buy Cook Beautiful now.
Reading
– Mindset by Carol Dweck: I actually read this back in January but have since picked it up and started reading it again as it was a real perspective changing book for me. Like the Perfectionism Project, this has opened by mind up to what it really means to be a perfectionist, aka being in the “fixed mindset” as per Dweck, and how to move into a “growth mindset”.
– The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown: Sensing a theme here? While Mindset helped me understand, well, my mindset, Gift of Imperfection helped me understand the root cause of perfectionism and why we do what we do – avoiding shame. I love Brené. She feels like that friend’s mom who you want to hang out with. I love her vulnerability (a gift of imperfection nonetheless) and the stories that she shares.
Practicing
– Thought Labelling: This is something that has come up a lot in all of this mindset work I’ve been diving into and it’s quite simple, though takes practice to make a habit out of. The first step is noticing and then acknowledging that you are thinking. Then there are a couple different ways I’ve been labelling my thoughts. The first is identifying whether it’s a positive, negative or neutral thought. The second is giving it a story title. For example, if you’re having negative body image thoughts, it could be “that’s my perfect body story”. This has really helped me disassociate myself from my thoughts, and realizing that my thoughts aren’t necessarily true.
– Asking Myself Questions: Specific questions about my future self that is. I’m a busy-work procrastinator and get so caught up in completing unimportant tasks to feel like I’m accomplishing something, avoiding the “needle movers” all together. Asking the simple question, “what would my future self want me to be doing right now?” really helps me get the important stuff done.
– 80% Rule: Part of being a perfectionist is thinking that all efforts have to result in 100% completion or perfection. My new rule is that it only needs to be 80% complete and that is good enough. My new mantra is “more often than not” and that helps release my all-or-nothing mindset.
Using
– Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum: Now that I’ve been in my 30’s for a couple years, I’ve realized that I really need to start tweaking my skincare regime. Back in January I had a facial at Fig and asked the esthetician what I should start with and she said vitamin C and a chemical exfoliant. Vitamin C fades dark spot and hyper pigmentation, brightens the skin and helps with collagen production. Through some google research I learned that vitamin c needs vitamin e to lower the ph and ferulic acid to stabalize. After scouring ingredient lists I landed on Mad Hippie. It checks all the boxes and is reasonably priced at $50 (though I really despise the branding). It also contains hyaluronic acid, one of my favourite skin plumping ingredients. I should note that Mad Hippie contains Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, a form of vitamin c that is known to be less irritating than the more common L-ascorbic acid (another form of vitamin c). Since I have sensitive skin, I wanted to start out with the former and work my way up to maybe this one (oof, the price tag but it’s considered the holy grail of all vitamin c’s) or this one. So how is it working so far? I definitely noticed some hyper pigmentation from old blemishes have significantly faded (like almost gone). I’m going to finish the bottle and then maybe consider moving on up to another one.
– Other skincare: Speaking of skincare I thought I would share my tried and true favourites that have been in the mix for a while. Dr. Loretta’s Gentle Hydrating Cleanser smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling hydrated. I use Pai’s Lightwork Cleansing Oil before Dr. Loretta when I’m wearing makeup (again, love the earthy botanical smell). I’ve tried many different moisturizers over the years for my sensitive skin and always return back to Derma-E’s Sensitive Skin Soothing Moisturizer. My eczema-prone husband also uses it.
Making
– Polymer Clay Earrings: Back in January I took a ceramic earrings workshop and it inspired me to try out polymer clay jewelry making (a much easier medium to work with than ceramic clay). There is a devoted community of polymer clay jewelers out there and it’s been fun dipping my toes into it. The above two pairs are my best yet and I’m excited to make more.
– I love Cannelle et Vanille’s Bakes Simple book and recently I made her lemon and pistachio loaf. It was so perfectly tart and sweet, I think I need to make another one soon. I’ve also been in a cookie baking phase recently. I posted my mum’s oatmeal chocolate chip recipe here. The other day I made these mini egg easter cookies and they were a hit amongst many.
