10 Ways to Create Transformation While You Shelter-at-Home

When Covid-19 hit the United States and we were asked to shelter at home, everyone talked about having “more time.” Not everyone has experienced an increase in free time. Yet, the global pandemic has allowed us to look at how we use our time and to use it for transformation.

If you are interested in spiritual and personal growth, you may be wondering how best to use this time to be more, experience more, contribute more, achieve more, feel more… Whether you seem to have more time or less, you realize you could use your time better and, as a result, transform yourself and your life.

Indeed, you can. And you can do so even if you aren’t sheltering at home.

Whether you are now free to go about your “normal” life, must continue to shelter at home, or are toggling between the two to reduce your Covid-19 exposure, you have the opportunity to use your time for transformation.

Shelter Within

To come out of this period transformed, shelter within yourself. After all, you are your home. You can take time for introspection and inner world.

It matters little where you live, what your home looks like, or the conditions of your residence. Where ever you live, you are there.

Focus on yourself.

Stop looking outward for change. Instead, go inward. Practice self-care. Find ways to step into your best self in a more significant way. And create habits and mindsets that help you connect with your highest self and the Divine Creator.

I realize that may feel difficult even in the best of times. However, some simple practices can help you move toward transformation.

Time for Transformation

Try one or more of the following 10 ways to use your time for transformation.

1. Journaling

A piece of paper and pen might prove the most potent transformational tool at your disposal. Taking time daily to go inward and write about your thoughts, feelings, challenges, and aspirations reap powerful insights about how you need to change to achieve your goals.

Set aside 15 to 30 minutes every day to write in your journal. If you aren’t sure what to write about, ask yourself powerful questions, such as:

• What do I want?
• Who would I like to be?
• What could I give up?
• What could I do differently?
• Why am I struggling (or feeling anxious, sad, happy, etc.)?
• If I could change anything, what would I change (and how)?

2. Meditating

Meditation is another way to go inward and learn more about yourself. For some, it’s also a way to feel one with the Divine Creator.

There are many ways to meditate. However, you don’t need to learn Transcendental, Mantra, Mindfulness, or Movement Meditation, just to name a few…although you could.

You can approach this in the simplest way possible.

• Choose a time of day to meditate.
• Sit quietly and comfortably with your arms and legs uncrossed for about 15–30 minutes.
• Focus on your breathing.
• When you notice yourself thinking about something, release that thought and focus on your breath again.

Notice what thoughts recur frequently, and pay attention to your feelings and sensations. You can even journal about these experiences later.

3. Praying

If you have a spiritual bent and want a clearer connection with the Divine Creator, spend some time praying every day. Like meditation, there are many ways to pray. For instance, you can do so in your own words or using the prayers of your religious tradition. You can even turn your walk, run, or bicycle ride into time to converse with God.

Prayer allows you to deepen your relationships with God. It also can be a chance to ask for and receive guidance or to receive answers to your questions. (To this end, you could combine prayer and journaling.) Additionally, prayer deepens your level of faith, hope, and gratitude, all of which have magical ways of transforming you and your life.

4. Visualizing

Visualization can move you toward your aspirations faster than many other spiritual or personal growth activities. In fact, athletes, business people, and people from all walks of life use visualization to help them achieve their goals.

Your mind doesn’t know the difference between what you ask it to “see” and what is real. And the more you ask your mind to see a specific picture of your reality or future, the more real it becomes. As a result, you begin to believe you can have that future, which helps you take the actions necessary.

Additionally, you start moving through life “as if” you have already created that future. You align with your aspiration and become it.

All these things help you make your visualization a reality in the physical world. As you visualize what you desire, you generate the energy, attention, and actions necessary to bring it to life.

5. Coaching

While any time is a great time to work on our personal development, now is a unique time in history to do so. Humanity’s consciousness level is increasing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Of course, other things invariably cause leaps in consciousness, too.) And that has likely made you question your old “normal,” your purpose, how you have been living, who you are, and the people and activities to which you devote time.

You may also feel as if you are stuck or have mental or emotional blocks that hold you back from achieving the transformation you desire. That’s where a coach comes in.

A good coach, counselor, or therapist can speed up your transformational process. The right person can help you look inward, dismantle old emotional and mental habits, and find ways to move forward. You can choose from a variety of coaches—maybe you want a business coach, for example. But if you wish to grow spiritual and personal, a business coach isn’t going to redo the trick. Look for a life or spiritual coach or someone who offers a combination of personal and spiritual coaching.

6. Reading

Books can change lives. Choose12 books you think might change yours. Then, block out an hour per day to read.

If you are a fast reader or have lots of time, you might give yourself the goal of reading a book per week. Your 12 books will then last you three months before you need to choose 12 more. Or read a book per month.

To use reading as a means for transformation, be sure to choose books on the topics of personal development or growth, spirituality, mind/body/spirit, or psychology. Or simply select books that address issues you’d like to tackle, like how to find your passion, become happier, connect with God, reduce fear, or create a spiritual practice.

7. Learning

Transformation often works in conjunction with learning something new. So, ask yourself what you need to learn to change in the ways you desire. Then, commit to gaining the skills or knowledge you’ve identified.

Learning inspires and motivates change, but we often don’t make time to take classes or courses or join masterminds that move our understanding to a new level. As a result, we don’t take steps that lead to change, and change is necessary for transformation.

Once you know what you want or need to learn, research how to get that knowledge. Then devote time every week to learning…just as if you were in school.

8. Exercising

Whether you want to transform your body or not, exercise is transformative. When you move your body, you shift your energy toward high, positive energy. That makes it easier to change.

Of course, exercise will help you lose weight, get in shape, and feel better about yourself. For many, that type of physical transformation causes an emotional and mental transformation as well.

However, if you are in good health and happy with your body, try exercising as a way to shift your emotional, mental, or physical state. Do that consistently, and you will feel different.

9. Sleeping

Americans tend to be sleep-deprived. Between work, family, friends, responsibilities, exercise, and hobbies, we don’t sleep a lot. There’s just too much to do to sleep, right?

If that sounds like you, there’s no way you can perform your best at anything. In fact, if you sleep less than seven hours per night, you function as if you were impaired.

Right now, you have more time to sleep. You aren’t losing time commuting or driving kids to activities. You aren’t running off to the gym or for a massage. That means you’ve gained some hours each day.

This is your chance to catch up on lost sleep—to sleep eight or nine hours every night. Change your sleep habits now, and you’ll realize how being well-rested transforms how you feel and approach every aspect of your day. After that, you’ll never want to sleep less than eight hours again.

10. Connecting

From the isolation of your home, you have the chance—the time—to connect with others. Yes, you can’t do it in person, but you have so many ways to reach out and touch someone you care about.

You can text, phone, video chat, or get a Zoom call. You can write a letter or send an email

There is no reason to feel alone—even if you are the only one sheltering in your home.

If you are in a home full of family members, see this as an opportunity to connect on a deeper level. You have time to sit together at dinner and talk. You can single out your child or spouse for a chat on the deck.

Don’t complain about being alone…or not being alone. Transform your relationships instead. Then watch how that transforms your life.

There’s No Time Like Now

You can always find an excuse for not changing yourself or your life. More often than not, the justification has something to do not having enough time.

You can keep waiting for the perfect time to create transformation in yourself and your life, but you know there will never be a perfect time.

So make a decision to use this time—right now—to focus on making little changes. Each one moves you closer to the transformation you seek.

What are you doing to transform yourself or your life right now? Tell me in a comment below. And if you know someone who would benefit from this post, please share it.

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