Today’s Meditation

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“There is a comfort in rituals, and rituals provide a framework for stability when you are trying to find answers.” —Deborah Norville

We often think of rules and rituals as controlling us, not giving us freedom. But in fact, that is exactly what they do. Rules, rituals, structure, organization, and planning give us the well-planned day so we can harness the “feeling of power, control, and ultimately the freedom into the internal motivation you need” says Craig Ballantyne, author of the Perfect Day Formula.

And to embrace the happy, energetic, and relaxed teacher, we need to establish those rules and rituals in our lives to control the day.

So, now, think of your rituals and some of your habits. A habit is drinking your morning coffee without thinking, brushing your teeth while staring at yourself in the mirror, slipping your feet into your shoes, mindlessly. Those are habits.

Ritual are meaningful, thought-out, thought-provoking ideas to better yourself

Don’t fill your empty space with habits. Instead, cultivate rituals.

Like anything else in life, this will not be easy nor a fix-it-all. Everyone is different. It can take weeks, months, or even years to cultivate rituals. So be gentle. But don’t let go of the mindset that you can change your life.

Write your rituals and rules down. Think about them. Which ones will serve you best? Of course, you will need to put your shoes on to go to work and brush your teeth to keep your dentist from ostracizing you, etc. But do not dwell on these trivial matters. Some people find it a chore to put their shoes on, sigh with disgust when they don’t effortlessly slip on, cringe when the zipper is stuck on their pants or the button fell off as they buttoned the shirt. Really? Are you going to let that ruin your day? Bother you? This is unhealthy. And also the reason we need to cultivate rituals and rules. When you do, you won’t even think of any of the above, you will simply get another shirt off the rack, find a new pair of pants, and change the shoes. Effortlessly.

When you have rituals, habits won’t bother you. Guaranteed. And if they rear their head, breathe. Breathe deeply. Let it go.

What rituals do you need to cultivate?

Maybe a ritual you need to cultivate is more sleep. Or better sleep. Or the BEST sleep ever.

Here’s an example of a ritual: If you’ve never had a rule about eating after a certain time at night, you might have noticed that you mindlessly snack in front of the TV night after night. However, if you’re trying to lose weight, you might give yourself a rule of not eating after 6 pm or not eating at all while watching TV. Conquer the stress by establishing this ritual. Make it a “house rule.” Others will tempt you, ask you if you’re sure you don’t want just one scoop of ice-cream, just a small bowl of chips and dip, a handful of pretzels. And your answer will be: “No, thanks. I don’t eat in front of the TV.”

Now think of it this way: if you’re diabetic, you wouldn’t touch that ice-cream, knowing you’d have to stick yourself with a needle if you did. Then answer is pretty straightforward. No ice-cream for me, thanks.

Commit to your rule, think of it as the law. If you break it, you end up in jail.

Habits are easily broken, but rituals stay for life and grow with you. Be present.

Even with the meditation you are now practicing. Don’t make it a habit, make it a ritual. If it becomes a habit, awareness is lost.

When you have rituals in place, making decisions during your day, in your teaching, will become automatic and effortless

Make a list of 10-12 rules for living the perfect teacher’s life. To show you an example, here are top 5 from my Rules for Living the Writer’s Life (simplified), so you can see what they might look like.

1. Wake up no later than 7:15 am, and go to bed no later than 11:30 pm. Every day.
2. Yoga and meditation to start the day. Then breakfast and reading until 9:30. Fill out gratitude journal during breakfast.
3. Read and write every day: Read min. one hour/day, write a min. 1000 words/day
4. Make a list of 6 action items for the next day the night before
5. I’m responsible for my actions and non-actions (probably my most powerful one for me!)

Then, — there is the NOT to do list, which includes all the things that can sabotage the day.

• No TV during lunch or before 6 pm (if I do this, I know that’ll be the end of the work for me. I will just sit there and watch episode after episode of Forensic Files, Hawaii Five-O, etc. on Netflix….)
• No eating after 7 pm

Now, write down your own list of rituals and stick to them. And remember, nothing worthwhile in life is easy. So keep at it. Don’t give up. Truly, implementing my entire rituals list has taken over six months. I’m STILL trying to break out of the habit of eating in front of the TV.

To see what the perfect day formula looks like and how to implement it, check out my article on LinkedIn and visit Craig Ballantyne’s website here. (I am not an affiliate, I just believe in it.)

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Choose to control your time, your day, your life. Choose freedom of time by cultivating rules and rituals to keep your sanity, dis old, bad habits, create new, great habits, and conquer your day.

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Keep Reading the blog: Day 12 Inspiration and Ideas Abound

©Taru Nieminen 2017   The Happy Teacher Solution