Rhythms and Habits of Wholesome Life
This set of guidelines was written as a basic scaffold for more balanced rhythms and routines of life for two aspirants seeking to establish themselves on the path of self-awareness. We also look at helpful and harmful habits. May these notes prove useful for you too.
Rhythms provide balance and harmony in our lives. Our vessels sails steady with a compass, steering us to the islands of our journey. Every beat of rhythm you play in your concert is a clear step forward on the path. Rhythmic tunes build into a well-rounded new foundation for you to stand on. From these foundations, you arise enriched and reach new horizons in your life. Your potentials will have the support of a flow matrix to blossom and evolve in.
Routines provide balance and structure in our lives. They ground us into a solid frame of operation and help us reach the milestones on our path. Every routine mark you make with your program is a clear step forward on the path. Routine steps build into a well-rounded new foundation for you to stand on. From these foundations, you arise stronger and reach new prospects in your life. Your potentials will have the support of a framework to emerge and develop in.
Daily Rhythms and Routines ¶
Here morning is when you begin your day. The day is all of your ongoing day. Finally night is when you wrap the day up. The exact times you choose will depend on your circumstances.
What's important is that you reflect on what's important and channel sufficient time for the essentials that keep you on the path like the balanced sailor you hope to be. Surf with the good tides. It's smooth for you.
What's important is that you prioritize your activities and allocate sufficient time for the essentials that keep you on the path like the solid trooper you want to be. Roll with the program. It's good for you.
🌅 Good Morning! ¶
As we wake up to a new day, we remember the morning as a new dawn of awareness. Each morning is an opening for a potential rebirth, a fresh and beautiful slate for a day of pure and essential awareness.
- We wake up mindfully — remembering that we have a precious awareness that is shaped and cultivated by each passing day.
- We attend to our breath — our intimate and tranquil companion — peacefully breathing in and out for five minutes or more.
- We connect to nature and her elements, tuning into Earth — Water — Fire — Air — and their countless forms and combinations.
- We shape our intention for the coming day — what is it that matters to us, and how is our daily evolution implemented?
Mindful awakening is but a reminder of our baseline of awareness — the awareness that we have awareness in need of care, attention, and cultivation. Breathing deep and relaxed, we stabilize and refine our hearts and our minds — and our brains and our nerves. Nature is before you in countless forms — meet the elements, mind her as she presents herself to you this morning. Intention is the guide and guardian of your coming day — sharpen it into clarity and faithfully hold it by your side throughout the day.
🍀 Morning Kernel: 1. Awareness, 2. Breath, 3. Nature, 4. Intention.
🌤️ Good Day! ¶
All of your ongoing day sets the stage for the fruits of awareness you will harvest. Each day presents new challenges and opportunities for our evolution. Let us seize the day, let us seize its precious moments.
- We remember our intentions and hold true to them through our day — adapting where needed, ensuring the core is carried out.
- We settle down for our meditation, enshrining a slice of our day for entering deeper and higher into our budding consciousness.
- We dive into our assignments and plunge our minds into the day's insights — growing wiser and more well-rounded in our lives.
- We reflect on our habits each day, cultivating the helpful, cutting down the harmful, making the best of our day's potential.
Our intentions are the shepherds and wardens in a day full of choices — we prioritize our attention and activities, holding true to what truly matters. Meditation time is our prime opportunity to evolve and reach new realizations — half-an-hour with lead-ins and lead-outs is a good baseline. Exploring assignments, we enter the new to progress, we revisit the old to remember, developing an ever-greater understanding of essential principles. Our habits are the makers and breakers of the good rhythm and flow of life — and the stances we take will solidify the helpful and harmful templates of thought and action in our lives.
🍀 Day Kernel: 1. Intention , 2. Meditation, 3. Assignment, 4. Habits.
💫 Good Night! ¶
End of your day is the silent crescendo that lulls you into sleep. What we planted in the day, we harvest at night — and in the morning and the days that follow. Conclude the day well — rest well in the night.
- Wrap-up and unwind from your daytime awareness and its concerns — the day has come to its end, let the day have its rest.
- Relax and release the tensions in your body and mind — muscle by muscle, thought by thought — settling into calmness.
- Recollect the kernel of your day, take account of what has passed — set aside the details, recognize the essence alone.
- Rest in serene gratitude with the gifts of a wholesome day — absorbed over night into the deeper spheres of your being.
Unwinding the mind from the contents of the day, we wrap up our concerns and release ourselves from the pullings and pushings of whatever that has passed. Relaxation of body and mind is the soothing bed we make for ourselves — to reset and to revitalize, sound and fit to welcome the next good morning. Recollecting the essence of our day — detached from its emotions, free from its concerns — we take stock of the day's harvest and acknowledge the seeds of insight for all of our days to follow. We rest in peace with the well-concluded day's blessings — and calmly release ourselves into the lap of dreams and deep sleep, integrating the essence of this day into our souls.
🍀 Night Kernel: 1. Unwind , 2. Relax, 3. Recollect, 4. Rest.
Regular Rhythms and Routines ¶
Weekly Rhythm and Routine ¶
There may be weekly and twice-weekly rhythms that we establish. Some of them are personal. Others are shared — such as study wrap-ups and practice consultations. These rhythms support us with the regular summaries we take and establish new platforms for building toward the future.
On-Site Rhythm and Routine ¶
At times we will meet face-to-face and spend a more substantial amount of time together. Not only will we hang out and have a good time. These are also opportunities for "going deep" and getting more thorough works done. Here are some pointers on how to make that time count.
Mind Your Habits ¶
We are creatures driven by habits. Some of these habits are helpful. Others are harmful. We are here to cultivate helpful habits and to eliminate harmful habits. The more your habits are aligned in support of your true purpose, the less effort you need to keep yourself on a path of progress. Don't let your habits condition and dominate you. Control your habits and engage them to your advantage.
😊 Helpful Habits 👍🏻 ¶
- Managing Focus: Your focus is a precious commodity — and you only have a limited supply of prime focus. If you spread it too thin and split it over too many branches, you won't be attending to anything with proper depth, clarity, and precision.
- Longer Attention: Immersion, contemplation and meditation become easier when we train our minds to stay in a particular zone — with any given activity — for longer durations at a stretch. It takes patience, but the rewards are significant and pervasive.
- Leaving Gaps: When you leave gaps between your activities, you gain space for breathing and reflection. You will digest what has passed and be primed for what's to come. Have the necessary pauses — set a thoughtful pace for the engagements of your day.
- Moderation: Whether it's eating, sleeping, or recreation — too much and too little will both throw you out of balance. If you control your desire for even more, and if you temper the drives that leave you deprived — then balance will follow you in all things.
- Devotion: Great things are only ever achieved with constant and diligent efforts. Cultivate and treasure your devotion to that which matters the most in your life. If you are patient, steadfast, and thorough on your path, you meet with a world of fulfillment.
🍀😊 Kernel of Helpful Habits: 1. Guard your prime focus and limit your mental branches. 2. Extend your attention span and stay in the zone you have chosen. 3. Leave breathing gaps to reflect in between your engagements. 4. Hold a balance in all your thoughts and actions. 5. Devote yourself to cultivating true fulfillment in your life.
😟 Harmful Habits 👎🏻 ¶
- Distractions: A dash of diversion is healthy — but if you pursue every distraction, your mind will be torn and your mental energy will be diluted. Even your physical energy levels take a hit — when nothing is on course for long enough. Constancy leads to strength.
- Rapid Rewards: Short burst loops of attention with easy rewards scatter your mind. They leave you unable to focus for long — and even block you from lasting satisfaction. Overcome the addiction for rapid reward loops — it's a hollow and short-lived thrill.
- Back-to-Back Ops: If you race from one activity to the next – without breaks to reorient and contemplate — your ops will flood into each other, nothing is well-framed and settled, and this hectic saturation will wear you out. Step at a time — and then a pause.
- Excesses: When the mind is allowed free range, it will by its nature pursue to excess in all things. Indulgence in pleasures will leave you dull; excess in work-outs will leave you racing; and too much thinking will wear your mind down. Hold the balance.
- Laze and Haste: Idleness and apathy with things that matter — and rushing through, just to be done with it. These are two sides of the coin that buys you nothing in the end. If it's worth doing — then do it well — and seek your motivation for what's worthy.
🍀😟 Kernel of Harmful Habits: 1. Your mind is torn and diluted by the pursuit of distractions. 2. Rapid thrills scatter and compromise your awareness. 3. Relentless action wears you out and leaves your steps unsettled. 4. Free range for the untamed mind throws you out of balance. 5. Laziness and hastiness are traits that amount to nothing worthy.
In Case of Exceptions ¶
There are times when our routine falls through despite best efforts. It's not the end of the world there. This isn't a bootcamp. Or is it. Just pick it up on the next day — or at the first opportunity — and keep on moving forward. Don't let it slip and slide forever. It'll cost you significant time and effort to re-establish the foundation you fell or jumped off from — and never got around to returning to. Seize the first opportunity to continue. The momentum is still there from everything you've established. It helps you. Don't let it evaporate.