Shi:
Alright, for the final installment of unlikely sources of inspiration today, we are talking about personal water experiences a.k.a. showers and baths.
Kay:
Now, this is a literal inspirational source, and that’s actually backed up by a lot of science that often when you’re in the shower or in the bath you allow your mind just enough of that quiet wander time to start to come up with solutions to some of your greatest life’s problems.
Shi:
That’s one of the things we love about it, and we are intentional about getting our water time, and many people find inspiration or there are even whole advertising campaigns about doing your best thinking in the shower. But we certainly love to just feel the water, try to connect to the flow, soak in the water when we’re in the bath and find those moments to relate to the experience and to the general idea of water in a way that helps us deepen our connection to ourselves and to our environment.
Kay:
Well, whether you’re in a shower or you’re in a bath you are experiencing a luxury of connecting to one of the basic elements of life. Showers and baths give you an opportunity to be a little bit more intentional about connecting with this aspect of nature and we don’t necessarily have this aspect of nature readily available to us in the aspect of earth. Not everybody lives in easily nature-accessible environments, but most of us live with an accessible shower or bath, which means that we have the opportunity to connect to this element. Now, connecting to fire is one thing. You put candles up in your room or in your house and it kind of gives you that elemental feeling, but you can’t go touch a fire. You can’t bathe in a fire. I mean you can, but it probably isn’t going to feel very good, but you can experience the beautiful element of water through a shower or a bath.
Shi:
So, one of the ways that we like to bring intentionality to this is to set up the environment to allow ourselves to experience it at that kind of inspirational level. If you take a bath and you bring your phone because it’s 2022 and that’s what people do. Maybe stay off of your social media platforms. Don’t let that just be an hour of scrolling while you sit in this beautiful bath. Maybe you turn on some meditation music, maybe close your eyes, maybe experience the water, or maybe even sit in silence or read a book on your phone or something like that. You could still use devices and technology. Not saying don’t do that, but you’re in an environment that’s conducive for deeper reflection. That’s where reflecting even came from, initially seeing our reflections in water. So, being immersed in it allows us to be more open to reflection. Set yourself up for success. Create your environment to allow yourself to go deep with that reflection in the shower. I’m a big two-shower-a-day kind of girl. So, I’ve got my morning shower that’s like the utility shower, and then I have my evening shower where I put my hair up. I rinse off my body. I brush my teeth, kind of do my evening routine, but usually, I have some steam time in there. I like to turn on whatever book I’ve been listening to and have that playing while I’m in there, which right now it’s a yoga book so I’m really enjoying that level of reflection. But being able to set yourself up intentionally to utilize that source that you’re already using every day for deeper connection and reflection is something we would highly encourage you to do.
Kay:
A couple other things that might help you with your shower time. If maybe you’re like me and don’t necessarily have a bathtub in your house that is conducive for relaxing baths. One thing that I love to do to help bring more intention to my showers is I’ve got a little stack of essential oils in my shower that occasionally I will put near the drain and let the hot water kind of drip onto that to create a bit of an essential oil steam that comes up. Now, the scents help it feel more luxurious, and essential oils have all kinds of benefits for you, especially when you’re using that olfactory sense, the sense of smell to create a better and more conducive environment for maybe relaxation or awakening. So, using those orange essential oils, using a lavender essential oil. I will sometimes even use spearmint if I’m looking to maybe clear up my sinuses and the other thing, this one’s really simple, but I’m going to call you all out on it because man, I know I’m guilty of this sometimes as well, but I’ve brought a lot more intentionality around it.
Do a shower audit. Look at the shampoo bottles, the conditioner bottles, the body wash, the soaps, and the things that you have inside your shower. Now, are you the average person who leaves empty bottles in your shower after they’re done being used, or do you take them right to the trash? Many of us have maybe just the last two uses of a shampoo left over before we buy a new one, but we don’t get rid of the trash in our shower or the clutter in our shower, or the shower soap that somebody gave you for Christmas two Christmases ago that you had in your shower, but you don’t use. So, keeping the environment clean, giving yourself tools to let it be more of an experience than a transaction for your life can bring more intentionality to this inspirational source of a bath or a shower.
Shi:
Well, as we wrap up, I just want to say one, I am totally doing the essential oil trick in my shower this evening. Kay. Thank you for that tip. I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that or heard you talk about it. So, hey, I’m learning here alongside all of you. That is the first thing and then the second thing is as much as you declutter your physical shower space, make sure that you declutter your mind shower space as well. Towards the end of last year, 2021, I started realizing that I was in a nasty habit of allowing negative thoughts to spiral while I was in the shower. It was like this trigger for me to think about that one person or that one interaction or that one embarrassing moment, and then chew on it for my whole shower. That is not a wise decision for me to continue forward and so intentionally worked on snapping myself out of it. So, if you find yourself being triggered by being in the shower and allowing your mind to do the worry routine bring more intentionality to that. Shake off your body, even inside that shower even say out loud, something more empowering and positive and shift your direction of focus and thinking so that you can enjoy that opportunity to reflect a little bit more. So, this week we talked unlikely inspirational sources, and it was so much fun, and we have endless inspirational sources. So, you’ll definitely see another installment of this coming soon to the Kay & Shi Show.
Kay:
We’ve loved having you. Thanks for giving us this time this week to be in your corner and remember we’re rooting for you.
Shi:
Thanks, everybody.
