The Mid-day Ritual – Half-time

Where you place this ritual is up to you. It is meant to be like the half-time coaches meeting where you head to the locker room and regroup. It is your opportunity to step back and build off a positive first half or just let it go. In a way, this mid-day ritual is a combination of the evening and the morning rituals, it is part digestion of the day so far and part connecting to your foundation.

For some, this ritual will occur at lunchtime or at a break in the afternoon. For others, perhaps this ritual belongs after school or work is over. Try out different spots for this ritual; see what works best for you.

Questions to reflect upon and to sketch your responses in your notebook:
1) Where I am at right now, this afternoon?
Take some deep breaths. When we breathe deep, even for two minutes of deep breaths, part of our brain thinks, oh we are calm now, the challenge is gone. We can reset in this way.
2) What is going well that I can build off of?
3) What has gone poorly that I am holding on to? Can I digest it, learn from it, and then let it go? If I am having a tough day, can I use this break in the action to reset, to redirect?

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Keeping these questions in a notebook, three times a day for six weeks will teach you more than you can imagine. Trust the process. See what emerges.

The Morning Ritual – Foundation

Start the day with some simple pleasures. Enjoy a few minutes of music, of stretching, of prayer, of coffee. I enjoy to read the paper and enjoy a coffee and do a cryptoquote puzzle. Take some time to climb up to that hilltop, to know that today will be good in some ways and will be tough in others.

It is worth having calm time in the morning, even if it requires heading to sleep a little earlier the night before. To wake up and immediately be stressed and rushed is to set in motion a stressful day. Even ten minutes of calm can shift the direction of your day.

Questions to reflect upon and to sketch your responses in your notebook:

1) Where I am at right now, this morning?

2) What is the greatest challenge I expect to face today? What is my strategy (response) for dealing with it? Do not put pressure on yourself to master your challenge today. Instead, aim to do better than you did yesterday. Improvement is growth. Growth should be celebrated.

3) Find some way to connect this ‘good day’ to your vision for a ‘good life.’ How can you continue to grow, to build the life you want to live today. Small steps, every day. Even if you are stuck in a situation that you find miserable, figure out a way to study, to grow, to find joy even for a small portion of the day. Think of how you can keep growing today.