Is it cold? Yes. But is it dark? Well, also yes. But what’s the sense of wishing things were different when you could be embracing this season?

Let me share 20 of my favorite ways to melt the winter blues away and raise your feminine vibration at the same time.

I used to hate Mondays. And January? This month has been getting a bad rap - dubbed by some as the Monday of months, it’s when people struggle the most - especially in the northern hemisphere, with its short days, cold weather, and next holidays seeming like a lifetime away. It’s back to reality, and sometimes it hits hard.

It’s 5 AM, and you’re dragging yourself out of bed, already feeling the cold. It’s dark - and you know it’s going to be dark for quite a few more hours, and cold - with no end in sight. You make your way to work begrudgingly, wishing the holidays would have lasted just a little longer - maybe until the cold passes, or the day gets longer. No choice, though; the cheery season is gone, and with it, most of your savings. You’re dreaming of a warm beach, but your next vacation is eons away, and your upcoming planning meeting at work makes you shiver.

You tell yourself you just need to get through the motion, push through it, and everything will be better by spring.

This totally used to be my start of the year, and I had almost forgotten about it until a post about January blues popped into my feed. It got me thinking about all the ways in which my life has changed since embracing my feminine energy - and even though I had no clear goal around making my Januaries better, being in my feminine and allowing this energy to manifest in my life - and my home - has impacted my emotional well-being in so many positive ways.

I think people sometimes make this process of incorporating feminine energy into their life sound daunting, but in fact, there are many small yet effective adjustments you can make to nourish your feminine energy - and, as a bonus, make your January at least more bearable, if not even enjoyable.

Disclaimer: This post is about how to make your life better in small (and bigger) ways, for those who could use a pick-me-up and a bit more magic and coziness in their lives. If you are suffering from depression, know that seasonal affective disorder is a real thing - please go get professional help.

20 Ways to Raise Your Feminine Energy and Get Out of the January Blues

YOUR HOME, YOUR SANCTUARY

Look, I won’t sugarcoat it: our homes are a reflection of ourselves, and, most particularly, of how we feel in that moment. In turn, the environment we are in has an impact on our state of mind. This is why having an environment that puts us in a good mood is important. Maybe there are some people out there who can thrive regardless of the environment, but I want to live my life in the richest, most enjoyable, and delicious way possible. So let’s look at some ways you can bring some warmth and magic to your home by tapping into your feminine energy, first.

Original image from: Alisa Anton on Unsplash

1. Say Goodbye to December

Spend a bit of time taking out the Christmas decorations; store them away, and maybe declutter a bit - we all know our homes can get a bit too cluttered during the season, and that’s all right, but now it’s time to take those decorations down and do at least a quick sweep around the house so you can straighten it out. 

Think about it as your moment of turning the page - instead of reminiscing, why not allow yourself to mentally close down a chapter, so you can make space for something new?

I admit I was not really a fan of the putting away part in the beginning, because I didn’t want to let go of that festive feeling, but in time, I realized that by holding on tightly I was not making room for new energy to flow in. And since the feminine is both cyclical and flowy, learning to love my feminine side helped me make this a moment I am actually looking forward to, instead of avoiding.

Don’t rush putting everything away just yet though; read on to get some more tips on how you can maybe reuse some of the things you already have at hand to make your home a space you love being in!

2. Choose a New Decorating Theme

Don’t let that creative juice you have go to waste - start envisioning your spruced-up home by deciding on a theme (this may apply to some rooms or all of your space) - it may be a color or a concept you have in mind. What I like to do is start with what I have and also ask myself, what do I need most now?

For example, this year I have been craving a return to nature, so I decided to fill my space with plants and green accents. And since it’s gotten really cold, I had to bring some of my terrace plants inside, so half the job was already done - I just had to brainstorm a bit for how to arrange and what to complete the decor with. I’m saying this because I don’t want you to think you need to spend a lot of money or time doing this - sometimes, just switching things around, giving them new life or purpose will do the trick.

You can use Pinterest or your favorite magazine to get some new inspiration, but let your feminine side out to play, and have fun creating a space you feel is made for you.

3. Decorate with Plants

I know I’ve just mentioned this for myself, but hear me out: it’s not only that plants will add some liveliness to your space; not only can they clean the indoor air, but they are also proven to give you a mood boost and get your creative juices going.

I think one of the reasons I’ve fallen in love with plants, besides their beauty, is that I find them to be one of the most beautiful manifestations of the feminine in the natural world. They are delicate, expressive, come in all shapes and sizes, enjoy receiving care and love, and, in turn, give back a lot of positive energy.

Incorporating plants into your decoration project will infuse your home with a sense of delicate femininity and freshness. Since plants come in so many shapes and sizes, it’s hard not to find at least some that will fit your space. If you’re new to this, start with a search for low-maintenance plants - and if you have a pet, don’t forget to research which plants are non-toxic for them (not to mention small children)!

4. Play with Textures

The feminine is about beauty, perceived through all the senses, so don’t be afraid to play around and see what lights the spark in you. Maybe it’s a fluffy blanket and velvet cushions, perhaps a soft-looking armchair and a glass, airy vase—the options are limitless when it comes to decorating.

Since it’s winter, I love my cozy pillows and some throw blankets - they are functional and beautiful, and help me retain some of that warmth I’m already craving for, but I love to play around and different objects, layers and lightning so I can create a rich, delicious atmosphere in my home. 

5. Keep It Warm and Magic

Yes, you’ve guessed it, I love to keep myself warm - but who doesn’t, especially with the blistering cold outside? One of my favorite ways to create this sort of warm atmosphere is by placing candlelights and light strings around the house - they can be fairy hair or big bulbs, depending on what I have at hand and what works for the space, and they bring just the right touch of magic to my days.

So instead of putting away all your festive decor, have a look around and see what you could reuse - you can switch things up a bit by finding new recipients for your candles or finding a new place, a jar, or a different shape for the LED string or the fairy hair lights.

6. Create Your Home Signature Scent

Create your own, natural, inexpensive signature scent with a simmering pot - by mixing together your favorite ingredients.

If you’re wondering, a simmering pot is really just a pot (or a pan) filled with water and slowly simmering spices, flowers, fruits, herbs, allowing your place to be filled with beautiful scents. I love simmering pots for a few reasons: they’re natural, they follow the seasons, they’re inexpensive, and they allow me to use my creativity in the process.

Personally, I love the lavender-mint-vanilla combination, and the apple-orange-cinnamon-cranberries, but I do tend to switch ingredients up depending on my mood and what I have at hand. Citrus, spices, herbs - you can even experiment and find multiple “recipes” that you can use, depending on the mood - something fresh during the day, and something sweeter, more relaxing, for the evening.

The entire point is to let your creativity flow and nourish your senses in the process, so don’t be afraid to give it a try before buying your next air perfume from the store.

7. Make Your Place Inviting for Cozy Family Evenings

With cold, long nights, chances are you’re not going to feel in the mood to go out (or stay out) as much as in other seasons - so let your nurturing and connection-loving side drive this one and create a space that is inviting for all.

Maybe you finally get out those board games and arrange the space such that it’s easy for everybody to gather around, or maybe you create a “station dock” with materials for arts and crafts that you could do together - the possibilities are endless, and you’re sure to find one that would fit your family’s preferences.

This doesn’t need to be complicated - sometimes, it’s just about moving some furniture around or placing your favorite items somewhere where everybody can easily reach them - think the opposite of “out of sight, out of mind,” if you will.

OPEN TO JOY

One thing that I keep hearing about January is that it’s such a bleak month - after all the buzz of the festive season, it seems like all willpower is gone, leaving many feeling sluggish and unmotivated.

So how about we spark some new light and soul into our days and nourish our feminine energy in the process? You know, the feminine is also about excitement, delightfulness, and enjoyment, and one way to raise your energy is by getting yourself excited by what’s to come.

Original image from:  Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

8. Have Your Girlfriends Over for a Vision Board Day

Out of all the tips here, this might be my favorite one because it taps into so many aspects of what feminine energy is about.

You raise the energy through togetherness and laughter. You use your creative powers to design a life your soul wishes for. You tap into your intuition, allowing images, colors, and words to flow to you. You connect to your heart so you can bring to light your desires.

As you lean into your feminine, you will discover how magnetic it is, how effortlessly it attracts what it needs and wants. So if you’ve been thinking about creating your vision board for the year, how about this year you call your girlfriends over for a night of fun and create your vision boards together?

9. Plan Some Fun

One thing I love doing in January is planning my next vacation. Yes, I love traveling and experiencing new places, meeting new people, and diving into new cultures, but it’s also about that moment of searching, of getting inspired, that raises my energy - and research is backing me up: simply planning for something that gets you excited has the power to elevate your mood.

It doesn’t need to be something that’s months away -  here are some more ideas for you:

• Plan a date night, a weekend trip, or a fun evening with your friends

• Book a table at that restaurant you’ve been wanting to try ou

• Get tickets to a concert, the opera, the theater, or the movies

• Clear a part of your calendar for the weekend and (finally) go visit that art gallery, that museum, etc.

• Look online for ideas on how to be a tourist in your city or surrounding area

See where I’m going with this? These are fun, light plans that nourish my feminine’s need for pleasure and laughter - so maybe for this list, avoid things that you know you have to do and focus on what would bring pleasure to you.

10. Set Yourself Up for Most Delicious Evenings & Mornings

One thing that I’ve adopted into my life is this habit of asking myself, “How can I make this more pleasurable?”  but also “What small thing can I easily do now so I will benefit much more later?”.

While I do apply this to most of the things in my life, I find that a good place to start is with your mornings or your evenings (or both).

You’ll need to do a bit of experimenting with this one, but here are a few places you could start:

• Replace your morning routine with a morning ritual, like taking a few moments to set your intention for the day while you have your coffee, repeating some words of affirmation while doing your makeup (hey, you’re in the mirror anyway), or setting an intention to do an energetic clearing too while you skip in the shower.

• Do your planning or preparing for the next day the evening before so you won’t have to rush through things the next morning.

• Remember the warm cozy space I’ve been talking about? Make good use of it in the evening and replace doom-scrolling with a book you place strategically next to your relaxation space.

• Do a quick sweep of the house before dinner so you can have time to unwind after.

I find that asking myself those two little questions has allowed me to connect to my feminine energy so much more - and it doesn’t need to be big, complicated, or heavy - quite the contrary, I would say!

11. Create a List of Daily Small Things to Look Forward To

Big plans fire us up, but once the rubber meets the road, things can get pretty mundane, and the spark is just gone. 

I was totally one of those persons - I forgot all about my big vision and got stuck into these low-level vibrations; looking back, I was really bringing them in myself by being too rigid or worrying too much, even getting a bit discouraged when I looked at how many things I had on my list before I would be able to reach my goal.

While there’s a more serious discussion to be had here about how we plan, what we work on, and what we choose to put our attention on, there’s one small shift that you can start doing today that will instantly get you back into your feminine energy, and that is having at least one small thing to look forward to every day:

• Feel free to announce to everybody in the family that mom will no longer be available for 20 minutes after dinner.

• Tap into your creative feminine and set the table - you know what I mean, take out the china, and set up the decor, what would make you feel a bit spoiled and luxurious?

• Write a gratitude note and put it in a jar; take out the notes after a while, and have fun reading through them.

• Decorate one small area of your home.

• Get that bubble bath.

• Try out one new dish or maybe an old one that you’ve been missing.

• Make your lunch more enjoyable by sharing it with someone you haven’t seen in a while.

• Have a night in.

12. Be Intentional with Your Learning

Imagine how boring life would be if you knew everything by default.

Personally, I love learning new things, but what I find is that sometimes I get a bit lost in all the options I have or all the things I could be learning about. This kind of dissipated my energy and left me in a worrying, overwhelmed state, so I knew I had to do something about it.

Our feminine is ever-flowing and ever-changing, yes, but in order for it to come into the light, it needs that safety that the masculine provides - I’m not talking necessarily about another person, but about the need to balance your own energies - think about it as your masculine saying to your feminine 'I got you!'.

One way I’ve done this, and find to be very effective, is to ask myself 'What do you need in order to fulfill that goal?' So I’ve started aligning my learning with what I need in my life or business then and let everything else just fall off.

This kind of focus has allowed me to learn much quicker, since I’m not spreading myself thin, and be more confident in the work I’m doing or my skills.

INDULGE YOUR GODDESS

If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re looking for ways to raise your feminine energy, and one thing I’ve learned about it is this:

If you want to feel like a goddess, you need to treat yourself as a goddess.

With all the cold weather and so many hours of dark, our energy may not be at its peak, our skin may suffer, and just in general, it may feel like a time that we just need to push through, waiting for the sunnier days to come. I know I used to feel like this, and at the moment, I thought 'hey, I’m just giving myself a break here, it’s alright' - but even then, before learning about how to embrace my feminine, and how to live better in general, I sort of knew that wasn’t alright - why would I just shave off 2 months or so out of my calendar each year, waiting around for things to get better?

So here’s a list of things I’d like you to consider doing for yourself during this period - they won’t only help you out of the winter blues, but they are guaranteed ways to grow your feminine vibes, nourish your soul and senses, and get your goddess on.

Original image from:  Marine Sintes on Unsplash

13. Move Your Own Way: Intuitive Movement

This has been a game-changer for me because, before I used to force myself to go to the gym or have these complicated or ambitious routines.

I think this is also due to a bit of social programming, where women are taught to think about how their bodies look without taking into account how their body feels - and that is in complete opposition to how a healed feminine works.

The reality is, our bodies are our gateways to our feminine spirit, and once you start being connected to your body and honoring it, you start understanding the countless ways we’re trying to push ourselves into masculine structures that just don’t fit us.

I’m not advocating for giving up on exercising, quite the contrary, but with intuitive movement, we switch things up a bit by being present in our bodies, listening to them, and then choosing the practice or type of exercise that our bodies might benefit most from in the moment. Intuitive movement is also about staying present during the exercise so we know how much to push ourselves.

This can be choosing a swimming session over high-impact exercises, so you can spare your joints; it can also be choosing the less advanced pose when our bodies tell us to, or having a yoga session at home, where we allow our bodies to dictate which poses we do, in which order.

14. Make it a (winter) feast

I love cooking, and I think this act is so underrated because if you think about it, there’s so much feminine vibe into it: you nourish yourself and your family; you get to play around with ingredients and recipes, you use your creativity, you involve most if not all of your senses in creating something that will ultimately bring people around a table, for shared moments.

Some dishes just speak 'winter,' so take advantage of the cold weather and the long evenings, get your recipes list out - or just browse for some new ideas if you want - get your family or friends close, and prepare some of your favorite winter dishes together.

Sprinkle with fun and love, and your evening is guaranteed to be filled with joy, your home with delicious smells, and your body with nourishing food.

15. Soften into Your Feminine Energy

After a frosty day, set up the atmosphere with some soft lighting, breathe in the peace, check in with your body, and allow yourself to soften into your feminine energy.

If you like, you can also try a short ritual for recentering into your feminine, like repeating a short mantra or imagining yourself releasing the stress of the day and leaning back so you can be in an open and receiving state.

16. Get Some Light Exposure

I’m all about soft lights and soft souls, but our bodies also need light exposure to function properly, and I confess that this is something I have thoroughly underestimated before understanding how this simple gesture, which most of us treat as an afterthought at best, can impact our well-being.

If you have the time, I encourage you to listen to this episode from Andrew Huberman in which he goes in-depth into the impact light has on our bodies in so many ways, from mood to hormones.

Since the days are short, I can’t count on getting enough light just by having a walk in the evening, so what I do is that during winter time I switch things up a bit and make it a point to go out somewhere around lunchtime - this can be for a walk, or if I have to be somewhere, I schedule that for the afternoon. And of course, I make sure that even in my house, I get as much natural light as possible during the day

17. Take a Page Out of Nature’s Book

We’re all sensitive to nature’s changes and cycles, but as women, we’re more likely to be in tune with its rhythms, since our bodies also work in cycles - and I didn’t understand how profound this is until I’ve come to embrace and love my femininity.

If you think about nature, what happens during winter is that while on the outside it may look like growth has stopped, it’s the inner work, what happens below the surface that matters more now.

For us, this may mean that we get serious about releasing what no longer serves us, going deep within so we can understand what our souls are really craving for, or even learning those skills that we have been postponing that we know will make our lives better in the long run. It’s also time to prioritize self-care, and, I find, a great time to envision and allow the seeds of my new plans to germinate.

I know that as a society we’ve gotten so disconnected from natural rhythms that it may be counterintuitive to adopt this into your life at first, but even small changes in what you do, and how you approach personal and spiritual growth can yield big results in the long run.

18. Don’t Just Take a Bath, Make It a Ritual

Alright loves, since I’ve touched briefly on self-care, let’s talk about everybody’s go-to image when we talk about self-care for women, and that is, of course, a delicious, relaxing bath. Of course, when you think about baths, maybe add in some salts or bubbles, there’s nothing more feminine, right? Well, let me tell you, you can go even deeper and transform your bath into an entire ritual.

The way I do it is by paying attention to details: the right kind of light, and the candles I choose; the right kind of smells - I love lavender and orange, and I rely heavily on Epsom salts, they’re a great addition, especially in winter time, right down to the playlist I create.

For the playlist, I tend to select something that will align with my intentions because, speaking of rituals, the bath isn’t just a moment for my body to be clean, but I also take advantage and infuse this moment with intentions of cleansing my energy, of releasing anything that needs to be released, and connect intentionally with my body. It not only relaxes my body, it's also soothing for the soul!

19. Dress the Part

I know that a lot of our femininity comes from the inside, from the way we radiate it, but you have yet to show me a woman relaxed and confident in her femininity who doesn’t like taking good care of herself, looking well put together and expressing her femininity through her clothes, makeup, or anything else around appearance - it’s just something that most of us naturally do.

Out of all the seasons, winter may be the hardest to dress feminine for, but it’s neither impossible nor does it have to break your budget - you can start by browsing through some magazines, getting a bit of inspiration online, and don’t discard what you already have - look at your closet with a fresh pair of eyes, find new, interesting pairings, have fun with new pairings, and allow your natural love for beauty and feminine creativity take the lead.

20. Create a Vibe of Chic, Glam, and Pure Indulgence around Your Weekends

Remember when I talked about how I now have this habit of asking myself how I can make things more pleasurable and light? The same goes for my weekends (or at least Sundays) - I’ve made it a habit to amp up my feminine energy during that period with small things that are in reach. And since it’s too cold to consider picnics or long nature walks, here are a few alternatives:

• Stay in bed longer; not necessarily to sleep, but you can either bring your journal and jot down a few words of gratitude, get out your book, or even - if you’re like me and do a lot of your work online - research a new topic or work on something you’ve already started.

• Enjoy your silk pajama or that dressy robe. Personally, I love both; they just give off feminine vibes and can be as playful or sensual as I feel like, and since I’m not planning to get out too soon, why not take advantage and stay with that feeling longer?

• Have that fancy dinner; and don’t forget to set the table!

• Have a manifestation ritual - using your vision board and your favorite meditation.

• Amp up the skincare game with a new mask.

• Bring in a fresh flower bouquet.

• Look at and get inspired by art.

• Don’t forget about your relationship with the divine.

I get that spoiling ourselves has a negative connotation, and I’m not suggesting that being spoiled should be our first priority in life, but hear me out: we can make things more pleasurable for ourselves or just go through the motions; we can create and enjoy pleasurable moments or stay in the fifth gear, always running after the next thing on our list, overlooking what’s right in front of us.

Being in my feminine, working with this energy, and learning to trust it has taught me that there are more ways than one of achieving things, of creating and enjoying a life I enjoy at all times.

If you would like to find out more about how you can relax into your feminine energy, live a life of abundance and femininity without compromising on your success, schedule a session with me - at the time I’m writing this, the first session is free, so take advantage while it lasts.

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