Rituals are often overlooked in recovery. Utilizing a ritual specific to your needs can be a great way to push your recovery to success. Engaging in rituals can help to keep you on track and allow you to develop a deeper understanding of your needs.
What Are Rituals?
Rituals are sequences of action that are set in place to be practiced regularly. These predetermined actions are meant to be implemented regularly. Rituals are similar to habits but often contain more being behind the actions involved.
Review the following suggestions to help you determine which rituals are most beneficial for you to engage in throughout your recovery journey.
Connect With Nature
Connecting with nature is a great ritual to add to your recovery routine. Many individuals find a sense of satisfaction and joy from being outdoors and taking in the small beauties of the world around us.
Set aside some time each day to go on a nature walk outside, meditate in the fresh air, or engage in an outdoor activity that you enjoy. This can be as simple as taking a walk around the block. If you find enjoyment through engagement in outdoor activities, making this activity a daily or weekly ritual is a great way to boost your mood and motivation for your recovery journey.
Have a Set Wake-Up Time
When life becomes overwhelming, it can be easy to sleep in and disregard your healthy sleeping habits. Knowing that you have a lot of responsibilities to engage in throughout the day, you may subconsciously choose to sleep in and forget the day ahead of you.
While doing this may provide you with immediate gratification, it disrupts your sleep cycle. In the long run, this can cause you to fall behind in your responsibilities. Having a consistent wake-up time is a great ritualistic practice to help manage your sleep efficiently and start your day off with success.
Eat Breakfast Everyday
Another great way to start your day off with success is to ensure you consume a healthy and nutritious breakfast. You may wish to eat breakfast immediately after waking up or a few hours after. Regardless of your preferences, having a consistent time to consume breakfast can help this routine become a ritualistic practice. As you fuel your body at the beginning of each day, you can obtain the motivation needed to get through the day, one step at a time.
Keeping consistent mealtimes for your other meals throughout your day is also important. Establishing healthy and clean eating habits helps to overall improve your health. Using each mealtime as a ritualistic opportunity can help you ensure that your eating schedule is regulated. This can also help you ensure your body has the nutrients it needs to function properly.
Engage in Meditation or Prayer
Having a time of day dedicated to meditative practices can be a great way to ground your emotions and restore your powers of self-control. Praying may be a desired ritualistic practice if you identify as a religious individual. If you are not religious or do not resonate with the act of prayer, meditation is a great way to achieve these results.
The level of self-awareness that arises from acts of meditation or prayer rituals can exemplify the ability to understand your needs moving forward. Self-awareness is crucial in recovery and can help you discover what aspects of your treatment plan are working and what may need to be changed. Utilizing this ritualistic practice can help you strengthen your levels of self-awareness.
Set Up Reading Rituals
Reading is a great way to let your mind flow freely and let go of outside stressors. Various books can help you reset your mind and focus on your needs. Some books can inspire your success. You may also choose to read a book that is full of excitement and brings you joy.
No matter what you decide to read, the act of reading provides many benefits to your neural pathways. Setting aside thirty minutes each morning or evening to read is a great ritualistic practice to engage in through recovery. Get your mind flowing and think about something outside of your recovery journey.
Addressing Previous Rituals
There are often various rituals associated with drug culture. You may be able to think of a ritual you used to engage in before beginning your recovery journey. It is important to let go of these rituals and implement new ones that benefit your success in recovery.
Understanding what some of your past rituals were can help you to establish new rituals. Looking at how these past habits may have negatively affected your cycle of addiction can help you discover alternative ritualistic practices that will help you in recovery.
Ritualistic practices are great ways to engage in new behaviors and establish new habits to benefit your recovery needs. Determining which ritualistic practices to engage in can be difficult. Some ideas of rituals to engage in include connecting with nature, setting a consistent bedtime or wake-up time, eating a nutritious breakfast, engaging in forms of meditation or prayer, reading, and any other routine that aligns with your goals in recovery. Engaging in any ritualistic practice that resonates with you is a great way to establish new habits and get comfortable in your newfound sober lifestyle. To learn more about ritualistic practices and how they can benefit your recovery journey, reach out to Dream Recovery at (657) 216-7218.
Recent Comments