I truly believe that everything happens for a reason in life. Each new experience, good or bad, influences who we are today. For me the time of great change and growth was my pregnancy and early motherhood. It was then that I really learned how to listen to my body and focus on myself. After my child was born, I also realised that if I didn't take care of myself, I wouldn't take care of the people I love. I realised how important it is to balance my mind, body and spirit and I began to learn more and more about a holistic way of living.

One day when I was walking in the forest with my newborn son, I got the idea of creating a planner that would help me remember about mindfulness and daily self-care. The morning sun that streamed through the trees that day directed my mind to the word ‘komorebi’, which I thought was the perfect name for my project. The beautiful Japanese word ‘komorebi’ is used to describe the sunlight that is filtered through the leaves of the trees. This phenomena is easiest to notice in the early morning or at the end of the day when the sun is low.

I think that the interplay of light and darkness, the contrast between sunshine and shadow can teach us about life. There are times when we feel out of balance, shrouded in shadow, when we’re experiencing grief, exhaustion, or disappointment. During such hard times, it’s easy to forget that everything passes and these difficult moments can give us new opportunities.

I’ve read about komorebi and something that drew my attention was that in order to really see the komorebi when there’s a lot of darkness requires a lot of strength and work, but sometimes just one ray of light can change the landscape. It’s the same with daily self-care. There are many everyday simple pleasures and rituals that make us feel better.

I know many people, including family and friends, who tend to forget how important it is to take care of themselves. That’s why after I had used the planner for myself for many months, I also decided to share my idea with others with the hope that it may help them to add some rituals and magic to everyday life, establish healthy habits, feel stronger, calmer, and ready to face every challenge.

I don't want to tell anyone how to live their life, but to provide a snippet of inspiration to an exhausted mother or a workaholic, or anyone going through a hard time, to carve out some time for themselves. It’s about simply spending more time outside, getting up earlier to see the sunrise, taking things slow, paying attention to changing seasons and remembering to breath. There is no right or wrong way to use this planner. You can start wherever you are and use it whenever you need during your journey towards a holistic well-being.