Wiki says a ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects… I see them as something I look forward to. Something what makes my day or week different from the usual. It evokes a nice and warm feeling in my mind and heart and conjure up a dream smile on my face. A little everyday ritual is for me to light a candle in the evening:-).
Morning coffee a morning ritual
My favourite one in the morning. To prepare and drink my morning coffee. The whole process of preparation and drinking it awakes all my senses. Breathing in the smell of my coffee lifts up the corners of my mouth and the saliva starts its melting journey. I like to hear the machine purring as something dainty is being prepared. Seeing the whipped milk slowly taking over the dark smooth coffee and creating a marble mosaic is a pleasure for my eyes. And the best comes last. The first sip, grabbing my warm glass and letting the caramelized coffee taste engaging my taste pallets. I truly love this sensation. The moment of slowing down and be aware of my senses therefore myself, my body.
The unique connection
This is what rituals do in my opinion. They connect us with ourselves. It is unique and individual feeling that differs for each of us. The body and mind connection is a particular journey as we feel, perceive and react to things diversely. We can then describe our feelings. We can say what we like and what we do not like. We are capable of recognizing love, happiness but also sadness and fear. We listen to ourselves. Isn’t that amazing? I truly find it so.
Grow into your rituals
My other connecting ritual is my morning yoga exercise. However learning to slow down and connect with your inner self does not happen overnight. I can tell you I did not always like yoga, as I was not ready to enjoy what it gives me. I remember maybe 10 years ago going to my very first yoga workshop. My friend invited me to join her. I was very much fond of running and any other cardio stimulating exercises training hard nearly every day. So I said to myself why not, I give it a try. We arrived to a big room with 50 people stretching around there; looking very aware and calm. My friend introduced me as someone doing lots of sport and being very flexible. Honestly I was not flexible at all I just did many adrenaline sports. At one point we were asked to connect to our tan tien, point located about 2-3 finger widths below the navel, called an energy centre of your physical body. If we manage to connect with this point and warm it up, our whole body starts warming up.
What do you think happened? I obviously did not manage to connect, I felt like an idiot among all the aware and connected people. The whole workshop was a torture for me. Back then, I said to myself never again, yoga is not for me.
Therefore my recommendation is do not let yourself pushed into what you do not like or do not feel good at. Grow into your own rituals. Like I did into my yoga one. It took lots of year for me, I am very grateful for the learning journey I was, and I am on today. Learning never finishes for me. It is my school of life.
The school of life
I believe that everyone is capable to find a little ritual for himself or herself. It does not mean it is easy as described above. Moreover, there are circumstances, which influence us. Nevertheless, I believe that if we want to we can. Our ritual is our good little routine, the one that puts balance into our day. Something what we create ourselves to look forward to every day or week and it can put us back on track. As we can see, the ritual does not necessarily mean something religious, community or even a sect driven. Which could easily be the first feeling or thought coming into our mind when we say a ritual. Final note using the “schooling” character would be about making a ritual from addictive substances. That I do not consider as a ritual to put us back on the track but rather the opposite.
What about you?
Do you have your little rituals where you connect to your inner self? It would be nice if you share it:-). If you struggle to find your balance, to connect with yourself and create your own ritual get in touch. I would be happy to guide you and show you the opportunities around to maximize your happiness. Or follow me on social media. I share energy and tips in my videos.
Happy day:-).