The end of 2025 is rapidly approaching. A few weeks ago, I revisited my vision board I made at the beginning of the year and realized one of my major goals that I had was to spend more time focused on my spirituality and general well-being. In a last attempt to fulfill this goal for the year, I started to incorporate a few spiritual low-effort habits into my daily routine, and to my surprise, they have definitely helped me to feel more grounded, peaceful and present. Especially with the crazy last few weeks of the semester approaching, here is my list of 5 micro habits you can easily incorporate every day in order to promote intention, gratitude and awareness to help develop your own spiritual hygiene routine
1. Thanking my Food
I grew up saying grace with my family every night before dinner; however, when I went to college, this habit disappeared. It wasn’t until I watched a video about little ways to incorporate small moments of gratitude that I realized how much of an impact this small gesture can have. Harvard Health Publishing says that simple moments of gratitude can improve not only emotional and social well-being but also have physical health benefits such as better sleep, improved cardiovascular health and even help extend your lifespan. Before I eat any meal, I try to take a moment to thank everything that went into the food I’m about to eat. Whether it be the energy that went into harvesting the ingredients, to the kind lady at the supermarket, thanking the people who helped cook, or even how lucky I am just to have cake-batter frozen yogurt in my hands right now. No matter what, everyone has to eat; this is an easy way to incorporate gratitude into a daily routine.
2. Daily Mantras
One of my favorite books lately has been Words to Live By, written by Ethnak Easwarran, which is a collection of quotes and short readings for each day of the year. One morning devotional centered around the power of incorporating mantras through difficult moments. Mantras help develop different mindsets and work to ground your thoughts and emotions. Whenever I have a free moment, I try to take a small breath and continuously repeat affirmations in my head. Positive self-affirmations can help boost self-concept and confidence in order to establish a sense of worth.
Some of my favorite affirmations are..
- Everything that happens is for my benefit
- I am lucky and abundant, and good things always come my way
- I am centered and grounded in the present moment
3. Energy protection
I’m going to be honest, this habit sometimes makes me feel so silly, but I do think it actually helps. I learned about this habit from a video about the importance of protecting your energy and how to align yourself with your goals, values and ambitions. The idea is to create a visualization around your physical body of some sort of energy “shield” to protect yourself from the outside world. Although this seemed so awkward to me at first, I noticed that I began to feel more energized and safe. During a moment in the day, I’ll envision a pink light flowing down from my head to my feet, keeping in peaceful energy and blocking out all the bad vibes that I don’t want affecting me for the rest of the day. I like to think of it as an energy reset, where I’m able to flush everything that’s been negatively affecting my spirit recently and start from scratch. I’ll do it literally anytime throughout the day, when I’m walking to class, driving home, in the middle of my homework, or even when I’m just watching TikTok at the end of the day.
4. Morning mentality playlist
One of my favorite ways to wake up in the morning is to blast my morning playlist first thing while I’m getting ready. It’s an amazing way to set my mood at the start of the day while brushing my teeth or finishing up my makeup. My morning playlist includes a range of different songs, including confidence boosts such as “Flawless” by Beyonce, reminders to live in the present moment like “Kirakuni” by Crystal Kay and calming melodies from “Use Your Heart” by SWV. I’ve noticed that since I’ve implemented this habit in my morning routine, I feel happier, more prepared and at peace going into my day. Music has such an impact on our moods, with Psychology Today explaining that “the most common motive for listening to music is to influence emotions”. This is such a simple practice to boost your mood after the first hour you wake up, helping set you up for the rest of the day ahead.
5. Morning/Nightly Gratitude
Back to gratitude, another habit I want to solidify this year is doing a quick gratitude reset right when I wake up or before I go to bed. I’ll either start my day by listing three things that I’m excited or grateful to do that day and/or finish my day by recapping three things that happened that I was grateful for. Sometimes I like to journal it, or speak it out to myself when I’m in the shower, but if I’m really busy , I just like to take a moment to think to myself. This allows a moment to reconnect with the present moment and to be reminded of all the small things that bring joy even through the stress and overwhelm.
Incorporating new habits into your daily routine can feel uncomfortable, especially with the busy schedule that comes with ending the year. However, your mental health and personal wellbeing are the most important assets you have finishing up the year strong. I hope that you can implement each of these micro-habits (or even just one) into your life to bring a little bit more intentionality into each and every day.