Last night as I feel asleep, I had the grand idea to start a sun salutation routine in the mornings when I woke up. It’d be perfect – I’d get in a dose of mindfulness, spirituality, and physical activity at the same time.
Then morning came, and apartment neighbors woke me up at 7 am, there were grey clouds across the sky and…sun salutation yoga didn’t really seem to be what I wanted anymore.
Then I remembered something Muchelle B on Youtube came up with: habit menus. While she focuses more on productivity, routine, and habits, a lot of her advice can be applied to spiritual habits as well.
The idea of a habit menu is that you give yourself three to five options in regard to starting a single habit, so you can pick one based on how you feel that day and how much energy you have.
In this case, the habit could be my morning mindfulness or spirituality habit.
My three-five options could be as follows:
Low energy: Mindfully eat breakfast without phone or other distractions. Make sure to express gratitude before eating.
Mid-energy: Make the bed slowly and carefully, listing things I’m grateful for along the way
High-energy: Sun salutations
Really dedicated: Sign up for one of Cosmic Corner’s mystery meditations or yoga classes.
So this morning, when I woke up feeling a bit lower energy than I expected, I decided to for my low-energy option: eating a delicious cinnamon roll slowly, thinking about all the ingredients and the process it took to make and end up in my microwave. It turns out the food gave me the energy I needed to do the sun salutation work, but that’s besides the point.
This will give yourself option so that depending on how busy, exhausted, or your mental headspace, you can still work on things you want to work on and build habits you want to.
Afterall, spirituality and connecting to it is a habit we have to build. And while sometimes it’d be nice to be able to do a full ritual every full or new moon, or even practice meditation everyday, sometimes life gets in the way.
Instead of feeling guilt or shame, try and redirect to something slightly easier and low-energy.
And, if you feel like you need some community support, you can always sign up for one of Cosmic Corner’s community events here.