Ritual Versus Routine

Which Sounds Like More Fun?

By Kimberly Guillot Thibeaux

“Rut is where you are when you are in routine.” This negative connotation of the word spoke to me when considering the “routine” things that we do in life. Think about it when you are talking about keeping your home clean or exercising. How many of them do you honestly “feel” like doing?

I challenge you to think about the same activities, but putting the word ritual with it. Now hear me out, let’s define these words from good ole webster.

Routine: a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program

Ritual: a ceremonial (done with purpose) act or action

After reading the definitions, which word feels less daunting?

The latter of the two brings a sense of sacredness to your day-to-day tasks.

Sacredness means “doing with purpose.” Doing things with purpose will create less suffering. There is a vast scale putting a quantity on suffrage, but if you find yourself dreading things that fill up your day, I invite you to create a ritual.

For example, washing dishes: instead of mindlessly washing, I encourage you to make it ceremonial. It’s as simple as saying thank you for the meal that nourished your body, the person who cooked the meal, the earth for making this meal available for your consumption.

This creates wholehearted living through everyday things like washing dishes.

Even though you may desire spending your time doing something else, creating a ritual makes it more pleasurable than wishing it to be over with. This quite possibly may be the remedy for the rut in the routine.

Happy Healing,

Holistic Nurse Kim