Crafting Wellness: Habits, Routines, and Rituals Part II

In Part 1, I explained the difference between the terms habit, routine, and ritual. In a garden analogy, I compared habits to seeds, routines to the plants that make up a garden, and rituals as the sacred space the garden becomes.

Why is this important? I believe habits can become drudgery and routines can often be interrupted or energy depleting. In our busy and stressful lives these practices can be challenging to maintain. Rituals, on the other hand, are soul-filling practices we miss when life throws a curveball. They are “want to” instead of “should do” behaviors. Whether it's being on vacation, getting sick, or dealing with an unexpected crisis, we feel a deep desire to return to our rituals. They are rhythms grounding us and making us truly well. They bring meaning and purpose to our days.

Crafting Our Rituals - How do I begin?

The question is how do we transform habits and routines into rituals? I hope this blueprint will guide you.

Conscious Choice

The process begins with a conscious decision to incorporate a new action into our lives (planting seeds) marking the birth of a habit. Additionally, it’s time to consciously evaluate our current habits to see which are the “weeds” we should pull from our garden. Do you want to walk every morning, start reading books again, or meal plan for the week? Any practice can become part of a ritual.

Repetition, Patience, and Self Compassion

Habits take time, patience, and self compassion. Charles Duhigg author of The Power of Habit, says there is no set time it takes to form a habit. We are all unique and each habit is unique. Be kind to yourself as you would speak to a friend trying to start a new habit. This is not about perfection. I tell my clients, it’s not succeed or fail…it's try and learn. We cultivate habits like we do our gardens, with time, patience, and creativity. They will embed themselves into our daily routines, becoming reliable and expected parts of our day.

Significance Emerges

With time, certain habits gain significance within the routine. They blend with other practices, standing out as more than just actions but as deliberate choices that create a sense of wellness in any part of our day or week. We find peace in routines which becomes evident when something disrupts those routines like sickness, crisis, or even vacation. We are made to find comfort in predictable patterns and cycles of life. Routines are like liturgies.

Mindful Crafting

The final transformation occurs when these meaningful routines are met with mindful contemplation. The list of tasks transforms into a ritual. For example: exercise, walk the dog, get morning sunlight. We ponder, what makes my morning routine soul filling, grounding, peace giving? The answer is that the morning routine of taking a walk with the dog and doing a breath practice in the morning sun has now become a way we greet the day, our faith, and our loved ones. As we understand this meaning and the notice the joy it brings to our souls, our routines evolve into rituals.

The Sacred Place

Understanding this progression allows us to craft our wellness journey intentionally. By acknowledging the significance of habits within our routines and the evolution of routines into rituals, we can build a life rich with purpose and meaning. We are "well" when our values, identity, and purpose align with our behaviors. Our garden becomes more than a beautiful thing to look at or take bounty from, it becomes our sacred place.

This is a process I love working on with my clients. If you want help, reach out to me and let’s have a conversation about it.

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