Every morning I conduct a more or less identical ritual. It consists of meditation, exercise, a quick shower, and time to work on my projects, like this blog. Within this ritual there are many habits that help to stick to the ritual. Let me try to differentiate between the ritual and the habits that compose the ritual.
James Clear reported in his book atomic habits on the power of tiny or atomic habits that are based on the kind of person you want to be. His book has been a great inspiration. I recommend it (without having any advantages of that) for all of us, who want to create a new pathway for themselves, to become who we want to be.
First of all, I have to become aware, of what my habits are like. You can write them down, as precise as you can. So, becoming conscious about the things I do repeatedly, that make me shape my personality and the way I think of myself, is the very first step of transforming myself. I would expand that insight and say that it is good to become aware of who I am or think I am in as many domains of my life as I can. Like territories in my mind, there are probably known and unknown places.
If I want to change, I need to know, how to care of my feelings, how I am able to remain clear-minded when thoughts arise, but also trauma that is captured in my cells, and where I can build consistency in an ever changing world and my own changing self.
But let’s get more into detail on habits in another article. Here I want to highlight the strengths of rituals. A good place to start is, to my mind, to ask myself what a ritual is to me. So, what is it to you?
There are some aspects that I think form rituals. I do not attempt to give a definition or complete list. Rituals can be something:
- That is repeatedly taking place in the same way
- That expresses conscious habits and make them alive
- That creates a “self-space”, a space or room that you enter and that changes you
- That is intentional and therefore serves as a platform to develop one’s personality intentionally
- That structures the day in such a way that the purpose of the ritual has its time and space where nothing else can interfere
- That helps to navigate in a distracting and stressed out world to unfold a deeper purpose that “calls” for us to realise it
The outputs that may be beneficial when we implement rituals in our lives could be:
- Development of postures that support our self-confidence, a feeling of inner-strength, calm and peace
- Lower decision fatigue, due to less single decisions that we need to make during our day
- Realization of intentional change to become that kind of person, we want to be
- Stability and clarity
- Joy and Happiness
- Becoming inspired by the tiny changes we recognise, while we are doing the same thing again and again (the opposite of monotony)
Of course, it depends on the ritual. What is the content of it. I assume, that we are thinking of “transformational” rituals. They can be small but should – to my mind – improve our overall life quality.
What are your rituals and how do they serve you?
Let me know, if you want. I am curious to read on your experiences.
Be well,
Milan