When the world is upending all around you, it’s really easy to write off your daily life and habits as insignificant. Which, in the face of a crisis - they seemingly are.
It’s easy to say f*ck it to nearly all your healthy habits. Stress drives you to crave sugar and carbs, not vegetables. The thought of cultivating enough focus to read a book is overwhelming, and it’s much easier to zone out to the soothing familiarity of a Netflix binge. Working out is a stress-reliever for many people, but when our energy is so chaotic and frenetic, it can be hard to channel it into a meaningful activity.
I’m an advocate for everyone having a Morning Ritual all of the time, but in the face of our current global crisis, I’ve realized how this practice can be especially healing.
A Morning Ritual is a collection of practices performed at the start of the day that nourish the mind, body, and spirit. Those practices will vary from person to person, but usually involve some kind of contemplative time (meditation, journaling), movement (yoga, stretching, walking), perhaps some focus on breathing, and other soothing activities like reading or mindfully preparing breakfast.
The point of a Morning Ritual is that it sets you up to own your day. It helps dissipate anxiety, worry and fear. It promotes feelings of peace and well-being. Instead of entering the day like a wild banshee with your smart phone in one hand and an overflowing cup of coffee in the other, you are able to enter your day with a little more grace. You’ve tended to your self and your spirit before the demands of the day start rolling in.
It’s exactly these kinds of things that get thrown out when life becomes unpredictable or scary. And it’s exactly these kinds of things that bring us back to our center.
Meditation is not easy anytime, but when your energy and focus are already fractured it can feel like sitting in motionless torture. All the more reason to do it. If for even a moment during your meditation, you can tap into the tiniest place of peace deep within you, if you can just see it glimmering in the distance, it’s worth it.
This is what the world needs. We do not need everyone running around panic-stricken, with their energy chaotic and their own fear bubbling up and spilling out over everyone else in the form of being rude to a grocery store employee or snapping at loved ones.
Life as we know it has been uprooted, and it leaves us feeling ungrounded. By this I mean you might not feel steady or stable. All the things that usually make you feel strong and secure are rapidly shifting, maybe even disappearing.
This results in anxiety, restlessness, feeling spacey or disconnected. A Morning Ritual will help bring you back down. It will quell your racing mind and heart.
Moments and practices like these are not insignificant. No matter if you’re an essential worker (thank you, thank you, thank you), learning how to work from home, learning how to not work at all, homeschooling your children, or caring for others - navigating these rapidly changing times requires you to be level-headed.
Now more than ever we need to find small ways to tend to our energy. The world needs us to show up as our best selves. Investing even just a little bit of time into our physical and mental health will go a really long way, especially in trying times.
Wondering where to start? Here’s a simple Morning Ritual to help quell anxiety and chaotic energy:
The Brain Dump - you will need a pen and paper for this. One of my favorite journaling exercises, this where you put all the thoughts swirling around in your head onto the page. There is no correct way to do this, no proper order. It doesn’t have to follow any sort of narrative. In fact, I prefer making a bullet list. Start by identifying the thoughts that are making you anxious. What or who are you worried about? What are you frustrated with? What’s making you feel scared? Run through all of these thoughts and write them down. Get them out of your brain and onto the page.
Get Quiet - now that you’ve dispelled some of those noisy thoughts, allow yourself space to get quiet. Get into a comfortable position - it doesn’t really matter what that looks like. You can lie down, sit cross legged, sit on a chair. Close your eyes and settle into whatever position you’re in. Start focusing on your breath, notice how it comes in and goes out. This is where you want your attention - on your breath. Your mind will probably definitely wander. When this happens, notice it. Then redirect your attention to your breath. Keep doing this, always coming back to your breath, for at least five minutes but keep at it as long as you’d like. Much like a snowglobe, this simple act of sitting still in silence allows your energy to settle.
Send it out - you’re going to send out love, healing and protection. You can list specific people you’re thinking of or you can send out these thoughts to all beings. Some might call this prayer. I just know it feels good to imagine light emanating out from me and spreading all over the planet. Our attitudes, thoughts and beliefs matter (think about the placebo effect). Their effect starts with our daily experience and ripples outwards.
This is a suggestion. You know what nourishes your soul, what makes you feel calm and grounded. Do those things and do them regularly. There’s no better time than now.
