RESOURCES TO REACH FOR WHEN LIFE STARTS FEELING TOO ORDINARY
Everyone's been leaning into a more whimsical life lately, and I'm all for it!! So much of truly enjoying our daily lives comes down to practicing noticing, creating and making room for more of the things that make life feel good, whether that's play, creativity, gratitude, connection or just paying a little more attention to the tiny moments around us. When life starts feeling a little too ordinary, it usually isn't that there's nothing good there. It's that we've stopped NOTICING it.
These are seven resources I love for doing exactly that. Some are free, some are things I own and use myself, and every single one of them lives in my mental health resource database, where I've been collecting resources for years.
MINDFULNESS CARDS BY ROHAN GUNATILLAKE
This deck shares small practices around awareness, curiosity, joy, rest and kindness that can help you start noticing things in your daily life more intentionally. I love that each card is one simple thing to try, so you don't need a whole routine or an app to get started. You can find Mindfulness Cards: Simple Practices for Everyday Life here.
PERFECT DAYS (THE MOVIE)
Perfect Days, directed by Wim Wenders, is alllll about finding beauty and joy in your everyday. It follows a man whose days look almost the same from the outside, and it ends up being such a perfect reminder to savor the present moment. If you need a little permission to slow down and appreciate a quiet, simple life, this is your sign to watch it!
WHAT'S YOUR PLAY STYLE? QUIZ
This free quiz from the National Institute for Play helps you figure out the kinds of play that naturally make you feel curious, energized and engaged. It even gives you ideas to start with, like trying a new recipe or taking a new route home from work. Adults need play too!! You can take the What's Your Play Style? quiz here.
GLIMMERS JOURNAL BY DEB DANA
Glimmers are the little moments that bring us a sense of joy, safety or connection, and Deb Dana's journal gives you prompts for getting better at noticing and savoring them. I love it because it helps you appreciate what's around you while regulating your nervous system in the process. You can find the Glimmers Journal here, and if you want to go deeper, I also wrote about how to cultivate a sense of safety.
CREATIVEMORNINGS
CreativeMornings hosts free gatherings for creative communities, plus virtual events, which makes it such a cool resource for adding a little novelty, creativity and connection to your calendar. You don't have to be an "artist" to go! You can find an event near you (or online) at creativemornings.com.
THE FIVE MINUTE JOURNAL
I've used this journal over the years and love the idea of a structured gratitude practice. It creates a little ritual of looking back on what was good, even (or especially) on days when nothing ~extraordinary~ happened. You can find The Five Minute Journal here.
GREATER GOOD IN ACTION
This website from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley gives research-based practices around awe, gratitude, connection, compassion, mindfulness, happiness and more. It's an easy place to find one small thing to try when everything's feeling mundane. You can browse the practices at Greater Good in Action.
WANT MORE RESOURCES LIKE THESE?
These seven are just a few of the 2,000+ resources in my mental health resource database. I've been compiling books, podcasts, worksheets, videos, apps and exercises for YEARS, and I finally organized them all into one place across 220+ topics, so you can find what you need when you need it. It's $14 a month, I add new resources regularly, and many of the resources themselves are free to use.
If you want a whole library of resources like these in one place, explore my mental health resource database →. And if you'd like support beyond resources, I offer online therapy in Alaska, Arizona, Texas, Utah & Washington.