Over the past few years, through many different experiences, I’ve become deeply interested in self development, meditation, and spirituality in ways that genuinely resonate with me. Little by little, I began learning, exploring, and incorporating small practices into my daily life. At this point, daily meditation and journaling have been part of my routine for years.
Everyone has their own habits, rituals, and ways of caring for themselves, but here I wanted to briefly share my personal affirmation and meditation rituals that I practice every morning and night. This doesn’t mean that this is the “perfect” way to practice meditation, but I hope that some parts of my routine may offer you a little insight into your own life as well.
In a broader sense, I started these daily practices as acts of self love. They help me step slightly outside of myself and practice self awareness. I try to treat myself as someone precious, someone worthy of care and kindness, rather than constantly living on autopilot. In a way, I try to care for myself the same way a mother gently cares for her child. With that mindset, I’ve built small rituals that softly support my inner world.
Morning
1. Affirmations & Morning Guided Meditation
When I wake up in the morning, depending on how I’m feeling that day, I either repeat affirmation messages to myself or do a short guided meditation to clear and calm my mind.
Sometimes I’m still half asleep while doing it, but I like beginning a new day with a fresh mindset and intentionally filling my mind with kind and encouraging words. My morning meditations are usually inspirational and motivating, something that helps me begin the day with positive energy.
There are countless guided meditation videos online, and I usually recommend exploring shorter ones around 10 to 15 minutes long. Different voices, music styles, and energies resonate differently with each person, so it’s important to find something that aligns with your emotional state and personal taste. If it doesn’t feel aligned with you, it can be difficult to stay focused.
Personally, I came across meditation videos made by a tarot reader I had already enjoyed watching for a long time. Because I already trusted her energy, vision, and credibility, it became much easier for me to comfortably practice meditation while listening to her voice and guidance.
One thing that feels especially important to me is protecting my mental space before meditation. I try not to immediately check social media, emails, or the news the moment I wake up, because I don’t want outside noise interrupting my focus before I’ve had time to center myself.
2. Daily Check In Journaling
After meditation, I do a simple daily check in in my journal. After years of short form journaling, I eventually designed my own journaling format that fits my morning routine best. If you're interested, you can download the workbook sheet here.
I write about how I’m feeling, my mission or most important focus for the day, my affirmations, and a few things I feel grateful for. It helps me intentionally focus my energy toward the direction I want my day to move in.
Night
At night, even if the day has been emotionally exhausting or difficult, I try my best to go to sleep with a lighter and calmer mind.
1. Daily Check Out Journaling
Before bed, I sit down and do a small daily check out in my journal underneath the morning page I wrote earlier that day. I don’t usually write long journal entries unless I feel I really need to. Instead, I briefly write about the highlights of the day, things I learned, and messages I want to say to myself. I enjoy ending the day by leaving behind a small emotional record of how the day felt to me.
2. Meditation
After that, I listen to meditation practices that help me feel calm and grounded. While my morning meditations are usually more motivating and energizing, my evening meditations are more reflective and emotionally soothing. Sometimes I simply listen to meditative music, quietly empty my mind, and focus on reconnecting with my body.
3. Prayer
Lately, I’ve also been spending some time in prayer at night. I don’t necessarily direct these prayers toward one specific god or religion, but I think it can be meaningful to speak to whatever you personally believe in, whether that’s God, the universe, nature, your ancestors, or simply the people you deeply love and care about.
Recently, I’ve mostly been praying while thinking about my family. I spend time expressing gratitude and wishing for the happiness, safety, and wellbeing of the people I love.
To some people, this routine might sound long or complicated, which is why I’ve intentionally simplified it as much as possible so I can continue doing it consistently every day. But honestly, it never really feels like a task to me. These moments have become some of the most comforting and meaningful parts of my day, daily rituals that I genuinely look forward to. I think that’s why I’ve been able to continue for so long.
These practices have helped me look at life with more hope, softness, gratitude, and peace. They’ve helped me appreciate not only my own existence, but also the people around me. Through these rituals, I first learned how to love myself, but over time, that love naturally expanded outward and helped me become more generous and compassionate toward others too.
I also want to mention that this routine didn’t suddenly appear overnight as a perfectly organized “meditation and journaling routine.” It slowly formed over time as my habits naturally evolved little by little. I think it all began with yoga. At first, I started yoga simply to strengthen my body, but later I became interested in the breathing techniques and meditative aspects within yoga itself. Looking back now, I think those experiences quietly opened the door for me to become more interested in meditation, mindfulness, spirituality, and inner awareness. Later, I discovered meditation more deeply, then became interested in tarot, studied tarot reading, and even learned tarot illustration. Throughout all of these phases of my life, meditation, affirmations, and journaling quietly stayed beside me.
Beyond meditation and journaling, affirmations have also been one of the most important practices of self love for me. Once I began understanding the importance of self talk and the impact that our repeated thoughts and words can have on us, affirmations naturally became part of my daily life. Even though repeating affirmations might sometimes look silly from the outside, I personally believe that over time, our minds slowly absorb the messages we repeatedly give ourselves, both consciously and unconsciously.
Below are some affirmation messages I personally wrote for myself in the past. If any of them resonate with you, feel free to read them, use them, or rewrite them in your own style.
Today is a special and pleasant day.
I am always learning and evolving.
I praise myself for how far I’ve come.
My life is flowing in a better direction every way, every day.
I am becoming healthier and more radiant today.
I am aligned with positive energy.
I am a person with infinite potential.
I have the power to fulfill my purpose.
I am smart enough to create better opportunities in every situation.
I attract success and prosperity with ease.
I am surrounded by loving and respectful people.
I radiate love, kindness, and beauty.
I am confident, intelligent, and successful.
I make decisions that honor my worth.
I enjoy my life in a beautiful world.
I am grateful for everything I have.
I am guided to create abundance and happiness.
I believe in myself.
I am worthy of my very best life and I am ready to receive it.