Habits, Practices, and Rituals
In my own personal practice and in my coaching/mentoring practice there are practices and rituals. These are often used to help guide the rhythm of our lives.
Ritual has been such an important part of my life for years. When I started working out I remember rejecting the word routine, not because I was rebelling against habits or doing something consistently. I was rejecting the word itself. Maybe it's because it sounded so rigid and when I would hear “falling off their routines” or when I would fall off of my routine it created more disconnection to the idea or concept. But the word RITUAL seems to take me to a place where my body, my mind, and my soul transcends into something deeper and held with more reverence to the experience or activity I'm engaging with.
Have you ever wondered why some people make things happen in their lives, while others just watch life happen to them?
There's a difference between habit and ritual.
A habit is an activity you have repeated so many times that your brain switches to automatic. You don’t have to think. You don’t do it because you want to—you don’t even question it. Our life is a system of habits that are all interconnected. Changing one can (and often does) affect the others. Changing your habits is a certain way to change your life, but it’s hard to do because most of them have faded into the fabric of your days and have become invisible. You can’t change what you can’t see.
A ritual is the opposite of a habit.
It requires your full presence and attention, and as such, it wakes up your brain and helps you create new connections between thoughts, feelings, and actions—which leads to more creativity!
Rituals also help us connect with others through time-tested traditions that have meaning beyond the immediate action we are taking together. And they bring us back into ourselves so we can be aware of what we really want from our lives creating awareness, connection, community, and devotion.
Practices are just the way we make the ordinary activities of our lives into something extraordinary.
They're exercises that help us learn new things, grow in new ways, and increase our capacity to connect with ourselves and others. The thing is, practices are a process, and they change over time. You may make a commitment to do a specific activity for years or you may get what you need from it in a day. The important thing is just that you keep showing up—no matter how long it takes or how many times you feel like you're failing—and gradually shift your attention from where it's been stuck to where it needs to be heading next.
Practices don't have to be complicated!
Some of my favorites are as simple as taking a few deep breaths before walking into a meeting, dancing to my favorite song, a delicious breast massage to help infuse my body with love or letting go of any expectations about how someone else should respond when I share an idea with them.
These little things have made all the difference in my ability to move toward the acceptance of my body, my evolution, and all that I desire to become.
