Birthday rituals for Self-Reflection and Reclamation

Each day you face challenges that force you out of your comfort zone. You grow and change in each one of these moments. These moments add up over time and before you know it, you’ve evolved; transformed. The passage of time brings beautiful new things into our lives too, this changes us as well. Who you are now is not who you were 5 years ago, or maybe even 5 months ago.

Sometimes, because of this we lose sight of who we are, what we want and where we are heading in life. At times we can feel a bit lost and confused, maybe disconnected from ourselves because so much has changed without us noticing.

This is why it’s important to check in with yourself and reconnect to yourself periodically throughout life. Your birthday is an excellent time to do this!

Regular self-reflection is essential for personal growth. It involves examining your thoughts, behaviors, and actions, identifying areas for improvement, and celebrating successes. Self-reflection helps you gain insights, learn from mistakes, and make adjustments to your mindset and behavior. Gain clarity, direction and perspective by reconnecting to yourself more often.

Here are 5 ways you can reconnect with yourself on your birthday or at any time throughout the year.

1) You can reconnect with yourself by journaling. Just start writing, just check in with you. How are you doing, what are you feeling, what are some things you are going through, what’s some of the clarity you seek? You don’t have to have a plan, just talk to yourself in the way you would catch up with an old friend.

If you get stumped on what to write, you might want to do a google search for journal prompts like the ones I have inside Unfolding journal.

2) Day dream. Even just spending some quiet time with yourself and giving yourself permission to think and day dream can bring some clarity and connection. Sometimes we’re so busy we don’t even have a chance to think, reflect or process situations in life. Giving yourself time to let your mind run and just listen in like an observer can help clear the mind and organize some of the thoughts. When you have some time to simply sit, think and day dream a bit, more creative ideas might arise or, issues you were trying to avoid. Either way, you’re taking the time to reconnect with some of your more internal thoughts and feelings which will give you a better understanding of yourself, your needs and desires.

3) Spend quality time with yourself. Remind yourself of your favorite things and go do one of them. Reconnect with yourself through spending quality time doing some of the activities that you love or used to love. It's important to find activities and routines that resonate with you specifically and bring you joy and fulfillment. Whether it's taking a solitary nature walk, journaling, practicing mindfulness, or engaging in creative pursuits, make self-care a priority and honor the time you spend with yourself.

4) A self-reflection ritual. If it is your birthday or you just want to dive into some guided self-reflection, my Sacred Spiral Self-reflection practice might be just what you need. It includes a 50 minute guided self-reflection ritual along with a workbook where you can get the prompts that are included in the practice.

This practice provides you with the questions to reflect on as well as a meditative experience to go beyond the surface level awareness of introspection. It includes a spiritual component dervied from the Buddhist tradition known as self, being and source. This practice helps you get to know your ‘self’; the outer layers of who you are and also transports you a little deeper to your core where you can connect to your ‘higher self’, ‘inner being’ or ‘true self’ - whatever you like to call it.

It also makes a great gift if someone you know has a birthday coming up. You can purchase it for them and send them the PDF access file you get sent.

Check it out here

5) Create a vision board. A vision board or dream board is a visual representation of your aspirations, dreams, and goals. It is a powerful tool that helps you clarify your intentions and focus your energy towards achieving what you desire. A vision board typically consists of a collage of images, words, and affirmations that represent the things you want to attract into your life. By envisioning the things you want for your near future you are essentially reconnecting to some of your values, goals and desires.

I like to work with Canva and find images online that evoke the feelings I want to feel from each goal.

Whichever you choose, I hope you enjoy the process. Although some of the things we try to suppress can be unpleasant, by facing them head on we build our resilience, self-trust and self-confidence. Subsequently, we develop more self-understanding, compassion and love.

Reconnecting to yourself opens the door to inner peace, clarity, and self-discovery. Embrace the stillness, listen to your heart's whispers, and watch as your authentic self blooms."