Routines Are The Big Part of Your Spiritual Growth

We often think that habits are dark holes. Just because they create boring annoying routines. So not spiritual, doh.

We boldly claim that these dark holes make us stay in our comfort zone boxes, while we (spiritual warriors) supposed to be free and in a constant flow.

While this might be true, there is also another interesting truth.

Ever heard about the medal having two sides? Yes, yes, that annoying outdated definition that is just as boring as habits. But ridiculously even that one is the truth.

Cause sometimes annoying outdated things make quite lots of sense, once the ego rebel mentality goes out for a short walk.

You see, it all comes up to your own assumptions and perceptions of the word “HABIT”.

Sounds easy, right? After all, it might seem that we all have the same words and language, but somehow each of us have our own different human dictionaries and encyclopaedias, based on our experience and perceptions of the world.

So, yes, you might still get your hair raising hearing the word "habit", but if you get through this, I promise, your hair might go down at least slightly (depending how much layers of body hair you have).

Quite often we also tend to use another word for “HABIT”. And that magical word is “ROUTINE”. We use these two words constantly interchanging them.

For some people hearing a word "routine" is even a bigger disaster, it appears that it can seriously bring health threatening seizures.

Well, one thing is clear – the intensity on routine bashing should surely win rewards.

This competition usually includes 3 types of contestants:

• the ones that secretly severely stay and live with huge amount of routines and hate it. They hate it so much that they need to spread their sparkles of hate to all the others, who follow the routine. It makes them feel better.

• the ones that believe routine gets people depressed or crazy, so they try to fight it, assuring that it is the best for all. They believe themselves to be the enlightenment to the world.

• the ones that are afraid to commit. Hence, they rarely achieve their goals, if they even know their goals.

Amm ok, not everyone might like hearing this, but everything in life leads to commitment.

Ow yea, here it goes again, another words we are highly afraid to mention. Especially in spiritual community. Cause we are all about freedom.

Because commitments stab people and freedom, drain your interactive essence out, makes you look ordinary, and blah blah blah.

Though, you know - you can be quite extraordinary having your own special commitment habits, creating something unique for yourself.

Even if it is lying naked in bed and reading a book every evening, preferably alone, or not.

In fact, it is quite ironic that people are afraid of habits and become annoyed by pure mentioning of routines.

Because, honestly, you already have some habits, even if you insist you do not. They are a part of you, they live with you daily or /and weekly.

You go to the toilet after you drink, you eat breakfast and dinner, you might wake up or go to sleep at the same/similar hour, you drink your morning cup of tea, you take vacation in summer and etc.

Of course, some of us have more of these habits, others have less. But you have at least few of them and they are meeting you constantly daily and weekly.

There is no need to be angry on them and curse them. Be thankful for them for what they bring you.

And here is a big WOW truth - lots of famous big spiritual gurus have very strong routines in their lives.

They wake up at specific hour every single day, they meditate specific amount of hours daily, they eat at similar intervals, they have classes and teachings at specific times.

Because they know the power of routines and how our precious "ego" wants to fight it in a battle to prove its wordly importance, shouting about "freedom" every single time.

They know that commitment is a type of freedom, that both of them lie on the same pole. They know that commitment as routines is a great way to "train" the ego in losing its grip on control.

Now, you might be asking: "What routines are the best for spiritual growth?"

You can surely find a lot of things in media about routines of successful and positive people.

Mostly mentioned ones are gratitude, organizing the next day in the evenings, meditation, morning running, exercising, jumping from the bed right after your alarm clock rings, cold morning shower and etc.

You do not need to get overwhelmed by a big variety of recommended habits/routines, but you can surely try to start incorporating one or few in your life as your morning or evening routines.

I personally divide my routines into: morning, evening and solving shit.

Well, you probably get the first two, while the “solving shit” one combines the ways how I deal when the problematic situations occur, such as:

• deep breathing

• thinking at least of one good thing that comes out from a situation

• reminding myself that no one is really bad

• taking responsibility and saying my thoughts loudly

I won’t lie, there is always a lot work that needs to be done in regards to solving shit. Good thing is that we can always stay being constant learners.

But, honestly, this drastically improved my life and still at this day surprises me how easy it actually can be, as long as we put our mind to it.

Of course, committing and staying to our new routine is a challenge itself. But by doing this we can constantly learn, try new things and be curious about the world.

Your habits can improve your health, make you calmer and more relaxed, create a smile on your face, even give you a new “AHA” idea moment.

Or it can make you feel guilty, unconfident, annoyed, maybe happy in the short term, but ashamed in the long term. After all, we are what we repeatedly do.

Personally, my little habits have drastically improved my life. I can see how more stressful, less energetic and angry I can be when I miss some of my routines.

And, yes, it takes time to incorporate new habits into your life. "The Power of Habit" book author Charles Duhigg says that habit circle consists of:

- a cue (something that remind you of your habit or a trigger),

- a routine ( trying it daily and not giving up) and

- a reward (feeling or creating a reward after you do it, which makes you feel accomplished)

Some people say that it takes 21 days to make the new thing a habit, some discuss slightly different period of time frames, but your commitment and consistency to it will surely pay of in the shorter or longer run.

However, the addiction of eating cookies or ice-cream before the bed every day probably won’t.

I know I know, we surely need to have some fun in life.

Though little sins might not be perceived as big issues, we need to ensure that those sins do not make us sad, guilty or confused in a longer time frame. If it does - it is time to change your habits.

Remember, even small little positive habits can lead to flourishing long term growth. So, take a step and grow <3

#routine #tipsforroutine #whyhabitsareimportant #womensblog #goodhabits