Changing Your Rituals

As with all aspects of life, you get back what you put in.

It's no secret that if you sleep half the day and spend the rest of it eating shit food and watching Netflix, you will not end up in a great physical or mental state. If you wake up and prime yourself with healthy habits and practices you will set yourself up for a great day. You start training your mind to be more positive, to push your own boundaries and to change the old ritual of waking up and accepting a life that is less than it could be.

If you want change in your life you need to establish new rituals and routines.

I have a fairly elaborate series of morning rituals. I allow at least one hour for it and it does take self discipline at times but I am committed as I know the rituals keep me on track and allows me to create the life that I want. When I bring something new into the routine that I find challenging, for example meditation, my mind will try to come up with excuses not to do it. This is where the heavy lifting takes place.

Don't expect it to be easy every time - when your mind resists, you persist. Congratulate yourself, this is when the change happens. Be ready for the resistance, because it will happen. Welcome it and press on. Feeling resistance is no failure, it's inevitable and it's a sign that you are achieving something worthwhile. Try doing weights with no resistance and see if you can build muscle. We all know that the amount of muscle you are able to build is directly proportional to the amount of resistance you are prepared to work against.

If you want to change your life, you have to be prepared to do some heavy lifting. So raise the bar and start creating good rituals for yourself.

Speaking of rituals, alcohol has been ritualised into our society. What do you do when you get home from work? How do you celebrate an event? How do you reward yourself for a hard day's work or commiserate with a friend in need? How do you celebrate an occasion? All these rituals can be changed. I will require working on changing your mindset but it is definitely possible. Maybe now is a good time to get into tea and creating a new ritual to mark these events.

Bring out the new glasses and fill them with some beautiful soda water mixed with herbs and lime, take some deep breaths or run a bath. Find new ways to reward yourself that won't lead to self loathing. It's time to question if alcohol is actually a reward at all. Waking up with a hangover and hating yourself can hardly be seen as a reward.

So now is the time to set some mindful new rituals that will lead to you becoming a happier and more fulfilled version of yourself.