I love my Maria-days as I call them, I’ve had them for as long as I can remember and I highly recommend having them.

Here’s a few of the benefits we get from having “dates with ourselves”:

1.) You give your brain a break so it can sort things out, connect the dots and put things together and in place.

2.) You clear your mind, get new fresh perspective and gain invaluable insights.

3.) You give your mind space to wander so that creativity can flow freely and inspiration spark anew.

(*Note: Write down your creative ideas but don’t act on them on your day off. Your day off is a day off and work should be put on hold).

4.) A day off gives you time to process stuff, reflect and re-evaluate previous actions and things you’ve done and experienced.

5.) You get to really connect with yourself! To slow down and relax is highly productive in the long run.

We need to always stay in touch with ourselves and to have a whole day now and then all to ourselves is worth more than any action you can take.

6.) You get to hone in on your intuition, to really listen deeply within, to ask for guidance and get back on track in areas where you might have drifted a bit.

Time alone gives us the opportunity to get back in alignment, to get our priorities right and re-focus/get new focus.

7.) Having a day off (and offline) helps us recharge, refuel and get clear perception.

8.) Solitude helps us reclaim our power; it’s so important to be alone and shut out the world and any outside influences now and then!

So what do you do on days like this? What do you actually do?

The whole day should be about you connecting with yourself, or the universe/god or whatever you prefer to call it.

It’s about connecting, so what I do is that I meditate, I write in my journal, ..

.. Walk in nature, listen to music, do yoga, review the work I’ve done (since there’s a natural completion of things in each cycle of creation) and see (and ask within) if there’s anything that needs to be edited, done differently etc etc.

And again;

No work is to be done on this day!

I write down any new ideas that comes to me, what I’m guided to change or redo etc but the actual work is then done the day after and onwards.

The day off is sacred.

That means literally no work, even if the mind wants to jump into doing and taking action (as it wants to).

It’s also beneficial to resist the urge to “do” because the brain and mind gets to ‘sleep on it’ and put even more things in place for you while you sleep.

So let everything go when it comes to work and taking action.

Spend the whole time that you have decided on (I recommend a whole day or more) being alone; with no internet and away from other people.

Have a day where you just relax and enjoy being with yourself.

And in the evening when you have completed your day (when you feel ‘done’) then watch a feel-good movie (and not an educational movie where you feed your brain with information) and eat something delicious and healthy.

Doing these things for yourself is crucial. I could not function properly if I didn’t have my Maria-days now and then.

It’s really about setting yourself up for success going forward.