A basket full of love, creativity and time for you.
If you struggle to find time for yourself, for self-care, creativity, rituals and love, then my basket idea my help you. As a busy mother who knows the importance of taking care of herself, I know I need to find ways to use pockets of time throughout my days and weeks, otherwise things don’t happen. It’s so easy to think we don’t have time or to spend all the time we do have looking for the things we need and then our precious moments of time are lost…or indeed we give our time to scrolling on our phones, possibly searching for ideas of what do to with our time or just sidetracked down a rabbit hole.
This is where having your own basket full of love comes in. If you don’t have a basket then start with a shoebox or a bag. You could also use an empty drawer but I love something like a basket or box that can be moved around the house depending on where my pocket of time might take me.
In my basket I put a creative project or two, a book (not my bedtime read but usually a non-fiction book that can be read slowly or dipped in an out of), a notebook and pen, a card I can write to a friend, inspirational cards, special tea bags, a scented candle and matches, chocolate, a favourite face mask, some Personal Space mist and anything else that I know will make me feel loved, creative, happy and nourished in as little as 5-10 minutes.
Imagine creating a gift basket for a special friend. What can you find around your home that you would gift to them? You are your own special friend and this basket is going to be filled with love for you. You deserve it. Even if you only get to drink half a cup of tea, read two pages of the book, smell the candle and look at the things in the basket, you will feel loved. And everything is here together for you for the next time you have some time for yourself or some time when your child is busy doing something but wants or needs you close by, or when you just have 30 seconds to hold the basket and remember you are so loved.
I particularly love this practice in the Autumn and Winter when I spend more time indoors and am already writing my wish list of things to create and do this Autumn. I find my wish lists plus the baskets really help me to make creative projects happen in small pockets of time. I hope it helps you too and that you discover the magic that will help you have the most loving, calming, gentle and creative Autumn yet.
Last week I shared my weekend baskets that help me create something special for my daughter Rudi to start her weekends off well or keep her entertained and happy during the holidays, if you missed it you can find it here.
