Wellness Basket Ideas (Filling Your First Wellness Basket)

As you begin your personal wellness journey, it can be overwhelming to figure out just where to begin! So this post is all about filling your first wellness basket and giving you some wellness basket ideas!

What’s a Wellness Basket?

I think before we say what a wellness basket IS, let’s clarify what a wellness basket is NOT– at least not what we refer to it as on My Wellness Basket. Especially if you are new here and haven’t seen the first few posts. If that’s the case, you may want to start here.

Wellness Basket For The Sick

While many people give ‘wellness baskets’ as a gift to those who are sick, this isn’t exactly what I’m talking about here on My Wellness Basket. Don’t get me wrong. I think a wellness basket for the sick is a wonderful idea! I’ve even given wellness baskets as Christmas presents so that people already have them for the next time they get sick!

A ‘wellness basket for the sick’ may contain great things that can go into your own daily wellness basket. It’s sort of a self-care box or special toolkit for when you are ill such as a jar of honey, throat lozenges, soft tissues, herbal tea bags, a jar of homemade soup, and more. BUT- that’s not what THIS post is about. Please keep reading!

My Wellness Basket

But here on My Wellness Basket, we’re more about holistic care for everyday needs and not just when you are sick. It’s about daily management of your health. Here we are speaking of a self-care basket or a toolkit for year round care. There will be changes in what you put into it according to the season of the year or your season of life.

My Wellness Basket will continue to provide you with information on nourishing your body with whole foods, herbs, and supplements (when necessary) as well as getting movement in your day, quality rest (sleep and rest for your spirit), and hydration. We will continue to explore things for the mind including mindset and gratitude. We will explore natural living topics such as toxins and decluttering. Most importantly, this post and others will discuss the journey- steps to make the journey possible and keeping it as simple as possible! Remember, imperfect progress is still progress!

If you haven’t read them yet, these posts may help you understand further:

Maintaining Wellness (the first and introductory post for My Wellness Basket)

My Wellness Basket – What’s with the name?

Imperfect Progress With Your Wellness Journey

This all means that your wellness basket, will contain the things you are currently working with to ensure your optimal health. Let’s talk about those things!

Remember: whether you choose to use a physical basket to keep items in or a kitchen cupboard, countertop or various places that are suitable to you, is totally a personal choice. Your wellness basket doesn’t have to be a PHYSICAL basket – but a metaphor for all the things you use daily or at least weekly- on your journey for optimal health!

What To Include In A Wellness Basket

Keep It Simple

Before we even start, please allow me to remind you to KEEP IT SIMPLE! Don’t read this post, the other posts, books, or other sources and feel you have to do ALL the things. Or even that you have to do MANY of the things all at once. That’s not necessary. In fact, it’s probably not healthy.

Keep it simple. Pick a few things. Try to pick the 3 or 4 things you think you can EASILY fit into your day. Do those few things consistently over the course of several weeks until they become a habit and you can effectively make a decision as to whether it’s something that is helping you that you wish to maintain. 3 or 4 things seem overwhelming? That’s okay. Just pick one or two. Keep it simple! Simple will get you more progress! Really!

Hydration

Start with hydration. Hydration is essential. Is it simple? It can be. BUT… Ugh. Not so much for people like me who just doesn’t seem to get naturally thirsty. I have to really work at it. I literally set up my herbal teas in the morning so that I see them every time I walk into the kitchen.

To make it easier, maybe carry a water bottle around with you. I just use my mason jars at home (I make my tea in them and drink right out of them). But I sort of wish I had this. Regardless of what you choose, make hydration part of your basket. Fill it with water or herbal tea!

Nourishment

Before you decide on what to include in your basket for nourishment, you may want to read Starting Your Wellness Journey to help you evaluate what you actually NEED. Read some of the other posts too on vegetables, vitamin D, vitamin C, etc. What’s an area you need improvement in? Maybe it’s just removing some processed foods and replacing them with a few whole food choices.? Maybe you will want to add a couple different foods, herbs or supplements? Read this list of ideas:

• Greens! Make more salads or green smoothies!
• Vegetables! Try a new vegetable or include some raw veggies in your lunch or snack dish!
• Nettle! Nettle is a highly nutrient herb and can be included in soups or made into a tea!
• Salmon! It’s important to have omega foods (fish) a couple times a week. Wild caught salmon is a wonderful choice!
• Nuts! Nuts are packed with protein and minerals!
• Berries! Berries are one of the best fruits you can eat- so full of antioxidants!
• Add new recipes! Try this Mediterranean salad out!

Movement

It’s sort of hard to put a walk into your wellness basket… but it should be there! So like I said, a wellness basket could be sitting on your counter but it doesn’t really have to be a physical basket. Or it could be- with a note to remind you to WALK! Includes some walking in your day. Need some more ideas on how to add movement to your day? Check out this post!

Rest

Rest is hard for us in this hectic world. Not only finding time to relax and be calm to rest our weary minds, but just finding time to sleep can be hard sometimes! If you have trouble resting or sleeping, you may want to consider the following things for your wellness basket:

• Herbs to help calm and assist sleep – tulsi, skullcap, passionflower, catnip, milky oats, lemon balm, valerian, hops, etc.
• Consider adding foods that enhance sleep to your diet. Check out this post! Tart Cherry Juice has been a favorite of mine recently!
• An eye mask – sometimes just blocking all light sources can make a huge difference!
• Light blocking apps or glasses – those computer and phone screens can really wreak havoc on our sleep cycles! Special glasses can help. We try to wear the ones with orange in the evening, but I do have a clear pair I wear through the day when I’m working on the blog.
• Consider logging off all screens at least an hour prior to bed. We really need down time before sleep. Reach for a good book instead of the phone. Too overwhelming? Try a half hour first.
• Don’t forget rest is not just sleep time! Take a few breaks through the day to just rest with a warm cup of tea or practice some deep breathing and stretches. Take a few extra minutes after lunch to go outside and enjoy some fresh air or some quiet prayer time.

Decluttering

I haven’t talked much about this yet but this should be part of your basket. Decluttering is a pretty vague term. We can all afford to declutter things in our home and our lifestyle. Most of us have too much stuff. Stuff in our bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and spare rooms. There’s stuff on our to do lists. Stuff on our minds. Stuff in our foods and cleaning products (Don’t nourish with toxins!) Think about this as you fill your basket. As you add things to the basket, take some things OUT of other places!

Mind

Don’t forget to think about your mindset on your health journey. I honestly realized just this past year HOW MUCH my mindset affects my health. It’s something I need to work on DAILY. Think about adding a list of affirmations to your basket. Add a book about gratitude. Perhaps a gratitude journal may be helpful. And, of course, allow scripture to nourish your mind. Adding a prayer book or bible is worth considering! A CD of peaceful music would be an easy thing to have in the basket and take out while making dinner or putting away laundry.

Other Things To Consider

Essential Oils

A number of essential oils can be used for nourishment, mood, and a variety of other health benefits.

Self-Care List

Include a list of daily self -care activities you wish to try and/or habits you wish to instill on a daily basis.

Planner

A Daily Planner – keeping your day organized helps your overall health by lessening stress of things left undone or forgotten. It helps you plan healthy habits into your day. Select a planner that suits your personal style.

Snack Options

It’s important to always have healthy snacks around, especially if you are trying to change your snack habits or are a person always on the go. I always try to have some extra healthy snacks in my purse in case I end up somewhere where I have no healthy options.

Filling Your Basket

Filling your wellness basket is an important step of your wellness journey. Pick some things today to fill your basket. But come back to your basket weekly or at least monthly and take inventory. Make sure you have what you need in there. Change things up a bit. Make your basket personal and work for YOU. Stay tuned for more posts to help you navigate your basket and your wellness journey!

Do you have a wellness basket? What ideas did you like from today’s post?