Many of us have morning routines but what about a morning ritual? Routines (e.g. having breakfast, tidying up), are often done unconsciously/on autopilot, are often externally motivated and have no deep meaning. Rituals on the other hand, often require awareness, presence, intention and are internally motivated.
My morning ritual for the past 6-9 months is the above picture. My first action was having breakfast first before turning on my Wi-Fi on my phone and then it grew from there (i.e. a page from Melody Beattie’s Journey to the Heart, morning entry in Gratitude – The Head Plan and a mindful(ish) coffee. I find this practice helps me to ground in the morning, instead of rushing straight into autopilot and offers some clarity for the day ahead.
I’ve also included some useful tips and reminders if interested in creating your own morning ritual
Do you have a morning ritual?
Book: Journey to the Heart: Melody Beattie
Journal: Gratitude: The Head Plan
Words in Images:
Routines (e.g. having breakfast, tidying up), are often done unconsciously/on autopilot, are often externally motivated and have no deep meaning.
Rituals often require awareness, presence, intention and are internally motivated.
Ideas for morning rituals:
- Lighting a candle.
- Gentle stretching.
- Mindful morning activities like a shower, brushing your teeth
- Short meditation-notice your thoughts, physical sensations, energy.
- Write/acknowledge your intentions for the day ahead.
- 1 deep breath.
Reminders
1. Start with 1 mindful action or selecting 1 morning, instead of several if it feels too big of a commitment.
If you begin with too many rituals, you may be setting yourself up for something more externally motivated (i.e. success, this is what I “should” be doing) and may not be nurturing/grounding.
2. Watch out for perfectionism and striving.
The purpose of a ritual is to nurture, connect and ground, and not to increase the length of our To Do lists.
If forcing a ritual is resulting in an increase in stress and self criticism, perhaps question your why and intention of the ritual.
3. Allow flexibility/forgiveness
Life is life where we will forget to do a ritual, we are away from our home environment or a curveball comes our way.
When this happens, we can honour ourselves with some self-compassion – the acknowledgement that sometimes life happens and it does not mean I am a “failure”. Self compassion is often an intentional act also.
4. If you can’t implement something before you leave your house/start work/college, is there some ritual you could do on your commute? Perhaps it is picking an intentional song/ podcast, taking in nature on your commute, taking a mindful breath as you leave the house/start your laptop.
5. Find what is situationally right for you.
At times, we have more freedom/energy to incorporate a few rituals. Other times, one is plenty.
Journaling (for example) may feel nourishing at one stage where another time, it might be more challenging than supportive.
Be open to where you are at each day while also open to the possibility to change your ritual if a former one no longer serves you.
