3 Purposes of Rejuvenating Nourishing Rituals
Create healthy habits that are mentally, emotionally and physically rewarding.
Rejuvenating Nourishing Rituals
What is your automatic knee-jerk reaction when somebody tells you that you “should” do something? Most people defensively think “I don’t want to, and you can’t make me!” You probably feel like someone is taking away your autonomy, your sense of control over your own life. You may still do the “should”, but you’ll have some level of stressful resistance. Even if the only person telling you that you “should” do something is YOU, you will still resist taking the necessary steps to achieve your goals.
I invite you to reframe the way you speak about the habits that you determine are needed to achieve your goals and to create your vision of life that makes you happy, healthy, wealthy and wise. Instead of telling yourself, “I should have good self-care habits”, try telling yourself, “I love my rejuvenating nourishing rituals, and I deserve them!” Do you feel the difference as soon as you say it?
The key to creating healthy habits that are mentally, emotionally and physically rewarding is to create rejuvenating nourishing rituals that you would love. These rituals give you what you need and want in a way that feels pleasant and natural. The 3 purposes of rejuvenating nourishing rituals are to provide a:
Mental Reboot - Rest
Social Reconnect - Receive
Physical Reset - Rejuvenate
This blog provides an overview of those 3 purposes. I invite you to explore ideas for creating your own rejuvenating nourishing rituals as we visit each of the purposes. Continue to ask yourself, “What would I love in and as my life?” You get to choose what you want to ritualize in your life to be happy, healthy, wealthy and wise!
Mental Reboot - Rest
Let’s start with a mental reboot to allow your mind to rest and remain calm as you peacefully process your thoughts and beliefs. Whether “shoulds” come from your own thoughts and beliefs or from an external voice that you heard or read, you’ll feel the same stressful resistance.
Memories
Since most of your thoughts and beliefs are based on past experience, mostly from your childhood, a good place to start a reboot is to process your memories and how they trigger your current thoughts and beliefs.
Challenge your thoughts and beliefs. They may have been helpful in the past, but things change. Are they still helpful? Do they feel right? Do you still believe them, or have you witnessed evidence that refutes them? Do they align with your vision and values? Shift any beliefs that no longer serve you. Reboot your patterns.
Create a ritual that helps you affirm your truth that you deserve to be happy, healthy, wealthy and wise simply because you are alive.
Creativity
Next, you can get creative with any changes you’d like to make, which is a great opportunity to consider what you would love. Start by appreciating your ability to create good in your life - good thoughts, good relationships and good experiences.
Know that your creativity can collaborate with others’ creativity to achieve world changing experiences with their ripple effect, starting with its effect on family, friends and your local community.
Be curious and look for fun ways to create rituals in your life that will help you live in a calm and peaceful state of mind. What kinds of meditative, restful or rejuvenating activities do you enjoy?
Activities
Sometimes you just need to change what you’re doing or how you’re doing it in a fun or challenging way to create the initial mental reboot. For example, you could try an activity that uses a different part of your brain. If you tend to be logical, try being more creative with your work. If you’re artistic, try organizing your tools and products in the most logical fashion to support your work. You could also try small challenges like brushing your teeth or writing with your non-dominant hand. The idea is to open to experiencing change in smaller increments and no real resistance.
You can also choose an activity to do with family or friends that is different from the things you typically do together. Make it fun. Find something that stimulates your mind and includes lots of laughs. (I plan to take my family to an escape room.) This is a perfect chance to think of some smaller rejuvenating nourishing rituals to create with lots of pleasure and no real resistance, so they feel easy and natural.
Social Reconnect - Receive
Next we’ll focus on ideas to reconnect socially, so you can feel more joy in your life. Think about your relationships with yourself, with other people and with all life. You need healthy connections in all three areas to experience more joy in your life.
Intuit Ways to Feel Joy
Joy is a natural positive state of being. When fear or pain disrupt your natural state, you will automatically move to correct the situation and return to your natural state. Unfortunately, our modern culture creates an almost constant state of stress, through work pressures, sensationalized media and economic uncertainties. It can be harder to return to your natural positive state.
Start by centering your mind and recalling all the ways you’ve experienced joy in the past. What were you doing when you felt joy as a child? At other ages? Bathe in that feeling of joy. Then invite your intuition to provide ways to feel joy in your present life.
Invite Others to Play Joyfully
You may already have some ways to return to joy by spending time with family or friends. I invite you to create rituals to ensure that you have ways to bring you back to joy throughout the day. Centering for a quiet moment can be an easy way to connect with yourself throughout the day.
Connect with loved ones frequently via a call or text, or actual hugs if you’re as fortunate as my husband and I are to both work from home. Meeting with friends and/or colleagues for meals or a walk at lunchtime can return you to joy.
Think of ways to frequently connect with nature. Grounding by standing barefoot in grass or sand can bring joy. Pets can bring joy. My dog is named Beatrice Zendaya (BZ), which means “bringer of joy and thanksgiving”, and she truly brings me joy.
Fully Engage in Joyful Activities
Plan plenty of time to fully engage in joyful activities daily, weekly, etc. Consciously connect by scheduling it as an appointment and by eliminating all other distractions. Actively pursue ways to joyfully collaborate with others and/or to have fun with others. To get the most joyful benefit from any activity, give it your full attention.
Physical Reset - Rejuvenate
Finally, we’ll focus on ways you can rejuvenate your physical body and reset your environment. As a reminder, the key is not to create a list of “shoulds”, but to ask yourself what you would love your life to include. What rejuvenating nourishing rituals would you love to create? Give yourself that gift; you deserve it! The first stress to release is the thought that you have to “figure it out”. Allow your ideas to come to you gently and naturally.
Movement Invites Intuition
If you think you “should” join a yoga class, reframe it. Would a yoga class bring you joy and feel like a rejuvenating nourishing ritual? Or would you rather be like a cat and just naturally stretch in a way that makes you feel good? You can choose either or both, whatever brings you joy. When I’ve been typing on the computer for too long, I naturally stretch my arm up and back to open my chest back up. Ideas can be that simple, especially if you’re paying attention to the signs your body is giving you.
Some of your most intuitive ideas will come when you are physically moving, such as walking or swimming, because you’re giving your conscious mind a rest. Choose a physical activity that you like and invite your intuition to give you ideas. You’ll connect with your physical self and release some of your physical results of stress.
Love Expanded Vibration
Instead of thinking you “should” meditate for an hour every day, ask yourself, “What would I love?” Maybe you could find a few quiet minutes to just breathe during your breaks. You might decide to take time to literally smell the flowers in your backyard or a park near work. Even taking a moment to affirm that you deserve some peace and quiet can expand your self love vibration.
Expand your love vibration by connecting with others. You can probably think of many ways to do this with your family and friends. I invite you to consider ways to send love or positive energy to those you have a potential conflict with or you feel any negative energy towards; it will make you both feel better.
Energizing Your Body
Notice how you feel when you drink plenty of water, eat nutritious food, exercise and get plenty of sleep. Notice how you feel when you are safe, loved, and achieving your goals. Choose to do more of those because you love yourself and it feels great! Create rejuvenating nourishing rituals to gently and naturally shift from habits that no longer serve you to rituals that are healthy and joyful.
Going Deeper with the Rejuvenating Nourishing Rituals
In the next several blog posts, I will discuss the 3 purposes of rejuvenating nourishing rituals in more depth.
3 Ways to Reboot Your Mental Energy
Create new belief patterns for your peace of mind
3 Steps to Reconnect for Your Emotional Energy
Strengthen your relationships to feel more joy
3 Moves to Reset Your Physical Energy
Practice your rituals for optimal natural health