(ps. loving yourself starts now)
Hey!!! This article is bringing us back to basics. What is the truth to self-care and wellness. Our rituals! What are the staple things we need to incorporate to grow in our day to day practice. Let’s find out!
“ You cant pour from an empty cup. ”
In a world where technology and consumerism have become a religion, we’ve lost something magical: the ability to elevate anything that we do, into something sacred. In his book The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz writes in his chapter on the Fourth Agreement (“Always do your best”):
“ I make everything a ritual, and I always do my best. Taking a shower is a ritual for me, and with that action I tell my body how much I love it. I feel and enjoy the water on my body. I do my best to fulfill the needs of my body. I do my best to give to my body and to receive what my body gives to me.”
What we’ve lost is this idea that there is an element of the divine in the world. I believe in God and I also believe in the divinity of every living being, every object, every breath. These aren’t just ordinary things to be taken for granted, but ordinary things to be deeply appreciated.
And so I’d like to advocate for the idea of ritual.
We can lift an everyday act into the realm of the divine by turning it into a sacred ritual. What I’ve been trying to practice is the art of turning what matters most in my life into a ritual.
So what would a ritual contain? It’s an art, so make it however you like: But first, ask yourself What would it be like to bring this art of devotion to everything that matters most into my life?
(Hint: if it’s in your life, it is important, as you’ve chosen to include it in your limited time.)
Follow our 4 step checklist to create your next ritual
1. Create your environment
The important thing is to consider what environment you’d like for your ritual, and how that environment will affect your practice. By taking time to create the environment, there’s an element of mindfulness and intention added into your action.
An example might be to have flowers and music and sage as you do your yoga practice, or to eat dinner with phones off, a candle burning, and silence in the room.
2. Bring presence .
A key part of ritual is to be as fully present as you can. This is another element missing from most of our daily actions, but if we elevate something to ritual, it can increase our presence
3. Deep appreciation
Ritual is about bringing full appreciation to the act. A daily shower ritual is appreciating your body for the miracle it is. Daily eating rituals is appreciating not only the nourishing food, but the people who put their life energy into growing, transporting and preparing the food. We often take things for granted — ritual brings the appreciation for life, the world, others and ourselves back into our lives.
4. Close in gratitude
A ritual has a closing, which might be simply gratitude for whatever you just did, how you practiced, or what you are devoted to. Give a small prayer of thanks to yourself, to the world and to everything around you.
Rituals to Consider
Any act that you do each day, that’s important to you, can be considered for something to turn into a ritual. For example, some that I’ve been experimenting with:
Start of your day: How would you like to start your day? Can it be with intention, gratitude, reflection? With aspiration and appreciation? With meditation and quiet?
Getting ready: When you get yourself ready for the day, will it be a rushed affair, or one of slowing down, appreciating your body, taking care of yourself, loving yourself?
Writing or other work: Whether your work be writing or phone calls or building a brand … you can elevate that to ritual by creating intention around it, appreciating what you’re creating, pouring yourself into the act, bringing mindfulness to it. How can you elevate it to ritual?
Email & messages: We normally just dive into checking email and messages, but what if it became a sacred ritual of connecting to others, of carefully considering issues, of crafting language? Can we elevate the act to one of deep presence and appreciation?
Eating: With eating, we can simply fuel our bodies and put food down our throats, phones or TVs distracting us … or we can elevate the eating to an act of nourishing and loving our bodies, connecting to others and the earth that has provided for us, connecting to loved ones’ hearts.
Exercise: We can rush through exercise, just trying to get it over with. Or we can bring it to the realm of the divine, letting it be an act of love for our bodies, an act of connection to our environment, an act of full presence and highest purpose.
Yoga: Is it just exercise and stretching, or can it be a ritual of full devotion and surrender, of practice of our highest selves?
Meditation: We can sit there, waiting for the final meditation bell to ring, or we can let it be a ritual of practice for what we’d like to train in. Or simply a ritual of full appreciation for the moment.
Sleep: Is sleep a matter of being on devices until we’re so tired we can’t check another thing on social media? Or a time when we reflect on our day, prepare for our time of rest, slow down and appreciate our lives?
Elevating What Matters Most to You
What is important to you? If it’s in your life, you must care enough about it that you’ve included it. Our hours are precious and limited, and we can take care to only place the things that matter most into that limited space.
If you care about checking social media, messages, email, news, blogs — why not make this act into ritual?
If you care about your relationship with someone, why not create a connection ritual where you fully connect with them?
If you care about reading, why not make a reading ritual?
If you care about your meaningful work, why not create a ritual for practicing with that work?
I invite you to create ritual around the deeper practice of what you are already including in your life and see how that keeps your heart space filled.
Thank you for reading this post! If you try any of these tips and see improvement in your self care routine make sure to DM us on insta to be featured on our story! @shopki.meishon or @thehealingwellstudio
As always KM is here to help support you being your best self. If you like articles like these make sure to comment below and view similar content on our blog. You can also follow us on social for amazing tangible tips and more.
Xo KM