The 7 Rituals: Number 5
Calming practices that help bring more harmony into your day
Ikigai is about experiencing your essence and purpose in harmony with whatever you do.
Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash
Days filled with stress, anxiety, and worry separate us from the harmony required to live out our Ikigai.
Here are seven rituals of calmness that you can practice to help bring more harmony into your day.
In this ongoing series, I will list all seven and detail each in this and subsequent posts.
If you missed the first four you can find them here…
one
two
three
The Rituals
These seven rituals will help you cultivate an attitude of calmness:
A calm morning.
Observe your response.
Take things without judgment.
Express gratitude.
Create stress coping habits.
Mono-task.
Reduce noise.
Create Stress Coping Habits:
Smiling Relieves Stress
Who hasn’t seen someone under stress and could tell by the look on their face?
Smiling not only helps to keep us from looking tired, worn out, and overwhelmed, it can truly help reduce stress-related hormones, increasing the mood-boosting ones instead.
It is actually difficult to remain stressed while smiling.
The next time you are feeling stressed smile, you’ll be surprised by the difference it can make.
Be present
Consciously decide to appreciate and experience today. Soak in as many of the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and experiences of today as you can.
Pick one thing to observe and notice how different you feel.
Disconnect
Your phone, social media, and email all lead to interrupted thoughts and fragmented days.
We are never present for very long before something interrupts.
Disconnecting, even for a short time allows your brain to rest, reset and focus.
Stress levels drop when we are rested and focused.
Reframe
I have a ton of excitement in my life. I used to call it stress, but I feel much better now that I call it excitement.
It is amazing what a simple reframe as that can do. Instead of stressing about an upcoming vacation, reframe it as excitement for the trip.
One final thought on stress.
When you are engaged in your Ikigai, you express your real essence and purpose. There is no greater opportunity to reduce stress than while doing that.
