Week 8: Turn Rituals Into Routine
Whenever I eat my Blue Bell homemade vanilla out of the original pint it never feels that satisfying. I mean it's GOOD but it's not THAT good..
However when I carefully use my ice cream scoop to scoop it up in three balls, put those balls of ice cream in a bowl, pile it up with nuts and drizzle caramel over it, I feel like like a STAR. I feel expensive. I feel fulfilled. I feel happy. Why? Because it is NOT a ritual.
So during this challenge many of us have been encompassing routines. Some feminine routines include: plating our food, serving our husband before our children and with two hands, wearing dresses and feminine clothing, wearing a signature fragrance every day, being very affectionate by giving each person in the family 12 hugs/kisses a day, wearing cute night clothes to bed each night, having a good sleep schedule, cleaning unapologetically, taking time for us to unwind, meditating/yoga/exercising/juicing/eating healthy. The list goes on and on. BUT they offer little substance. Why you say? It's simply a routine?
This is the week we shift from ROUTINES to RITUALS.
Rituals are richer in meaning than habits/routines. Rituals have many positive effects on our lives. They can:
- Increase Attention
- Inspire Creativity
- Increase Working memory
- Help with Emotional regulation
- Boost Immune function
- Enhance Cognitive performance
- Regulate Self-control
- Facilitate Healthy habits
- Reduce stress
Can you think of some women that wear jewelry, dresses, makeup, talk softly, the whole nine but they don’t seem feminine to you? Why is this? One reason is the intent behind the routines they are doing. Because of this, it's important to turn daily routines into powerful feminine rituals. These rituals can put you back in contact with your feminine energy and help you express who you are — truly.
Both routines and rituals consist of repetitive actions undertaken on a regular basis. But there are a couple important differences between them.
Routines - Result Driven
Routines employ end results that are practical.
Example: When you brush your teeth, you’re doing it for cleanliness. When you brush your hair, it’s to make it manageable. When you take a shower, you’re doing it to clean your body efficiently and quickly.
The efficacy of routines lies in the actions themselves. There is no deeper meaning or purpose behind a routine; it’s done for its own sake. As a result, it can be accomplished without much thought.
Rituals- Experience Driven
There is a meaning and purpose behind a ritual that transcends its observable components.
Rituals are inward and transcendent: a centered mind, expanded spirit, or renewed dedication to a goal.
Rituals center your mind and build your focus.
Rituals quiet the daily frenzy of your mind, but can also help carry you through times when greater interruptions have burst upon your life.
They exercise your focus receives from engaging in ritual will extend out to other areas of your life as well, improving your attention span for other tasks that require keen concentration
How to change your ROUTINES into RITUALS
Incorporate Visualization
Make it Special. Take journaling, for example. Get a fancy journal and nice pen. It might sound silly that swapping out your BIC pen and spiral notebook could turn the routine into a ritual, but it works.
If you put on jewelry every morning just to look more put together…. this is a routine. However, let’s say you put on your grandmother’s pearls or even pearls you intend to pass down to your grandchildren… You have shifted into a ritual. This is not just any set of pearls, but your grandmother’s. This may further serve as a daily reminder to become a strong link in your family’s generations of feminine women. Example: How AKA’s wear pearls A LOT to remind them to act with class and elegance at all times. How Delta’s wear elephants to remind them to be strong, intelligent, and resilient. These objects are SPECIAL to them not just a routine. It has a deeper purpose.
Timing is Important. Taking a walk in the morning may seem rather pedestrian, while walking at night may feel a little magical and mysterious. Taking a shower in the morning may be just to clean, taking a bath at night AFTER your showered for cleanliness might make you feel more radiant, royal, and at ease if you couple it with special soap, candles, music, environment, and more.
Work Your Mindset Muscle. Listen to classical music as you shave with your razor. Journal with your fountain pen in the morning in your sunroom. Read your scriptures at night by candlelight with a warm mug of tea. By seeking to turn your ordinary routines into spirit-renewing rituals, you can elevate your ordinary life into one embedded with greater meaning, purpose, and enchantment. Make it whimsical. What’s a ritual you need to employ?
Week 9 Challenge
1. Pick 3 Routines you have been doing consistently during this challenge. Write out how you will change this into a ritual.
2. Using your planner from the previous weeks, make deliberate times for you to do these rituals. PENCIL YOURSELF IN FIRST. Write down in your planner the days you intend to do your rituals.
Example Rituals
1. Lay out your clothes for the week and iron them. Play music or listen to TV while you’re doing this.
2. Long Bubble Baths with essential oils to Moisturize and visualize every care leaving your body and being cleansed away by the soothing, aromatic water.
3. Long Walks in the park or in the neighborhood. Incorporate music and pay attention to nature and feel gratitude for the beauty around you.
4. DIY Manicures and Pedicures in a special room/area of the house. Imagine yourself being pampered how you deserve to be pampered in every area of life.
5. Wearing nice jewelry: real pieces of jewelry. Pearl Necklace, Bracelet, ring that symbolize what you could pass down to your family in the future or how royal you are and deserving of REAL jewelry.
6. Exercise: Yoga, Pilates, Walking, Running, just get to running. Invest in some special clothes or at least matching clothes lol, nice playlist, envision yourself running into greatness for your life.
7. Meditate for 10-15 minutes each morning and night in a special location. Envision the positivity entering your life.
8. Light a candle and drink wine. Invest in a Bath table while you take long baths to wash away your problems.
9. Drink Water- Invest in a special cup. Special time during the day? Envision yourself cleansing every single cell of your body.
10. Juicing- Could be incorporated as a breakfast routine but made special by placing in a special mug or drinking in a special location looking at the sun come up.
11. Plating and sitting at your table eating. Imagine yourself as royalty, being served and eating well every single day because you deserve it.
12. While bathing and applying cleanser and moisturizer to your face, say loving affirmations to yourself
with feeling while doing basic maintenance. Some affirmations could include:
-My skin is so smooth and healthy!
-My skin is so clear!
-My hair is so thick and luscious! My edges are thick and luscious.
-I love my curves and my body flaws and all.
-My body looks great! It is a temple and I treat it as such!
-I am a divinely feminine woman and just by being ME I am absolutely beautiful
13. Using a Yoni egg. Let it get charged up by the sun. Then speak affirmations inside the egg. Then insert it. [/QUOTE]
. I’ve always wanted a way to have a ritual space for me to do my makeup and now I have it! I want wait to organize my space and place my makeup the way I want it! Y’all I’ve wanted a vanity mirror for two years now. I’m soooo happy my suitor made it for me. *swoons*
