Routine versus Rut

Holy cow, it’s been a whirlwind of a summer. I’ve been making the most of it: getting out of town for long weekends with friends, hiking at the coast and in redwoods with my husband, dressing up as Wonder Woman at prestigious professional conferences. Summer can pull us out of our usual routines – often for great reasons.

But as we enter the season Chinese Medicine calls “late summer,” the invitation is to move from the outward, busy, social, scattered yang energy from summer and start to ground down into something more stable and constant.

This seasonal phase corresponds with the Earth element (Spleen and Stomach). Nothing feels more grounding than rock-solidroutines that help you show up energized, calm, present, and focused.

Routines help us tame the chaos of life.

How good a job are yours doing?

If you feel there’s never enough “you time,” if you’re more stressed and tired than you want to be, if you find yourself fueling up rather than nourishing yourself with food — these are all signs that you don’t have the right routines dialed in.

You need these basics on autopilot so they can happen effortlessly, because the right routines are the secret to productivity, focus, as well as presence, and confidence.

They are the yin you need to power the yang of your life.

You may think you need more discipline, more willpower.

But what you really need are better routines.

We spend 40% of our day on autopilot, without much conscious decision-making at all. So it’s vital that we automate the habits we want. (Even if you have a ton of self-discipline, willpower wanes with the stress of our days, so chances are, even the strongest-willed among us will relent at night.)

To help you align yourself with this phase of the year, I invite you to consider these Earth element questions: (First think of what you do every day, or every week: from your morning coffee to eating in front of the computer to watching your show at night.)

  • Do you have the routines that help you feel grounded in yourself? (The Earth is grounding energy.)
  • What routines and relationships are beginning to feel like ruts that you’re stuck in? What feels comfortable, but kind of outdated? (Earth can get mucky.)
  • What’s it like to reap what you’ve sown this year? Is it what you want to be harvesting?
  • What are you feeding your body and your mind that feels like nourishment? And what feels hard to digest, or like you “can’t stomach” it, either literally or metaphorically? (Earth is transformation of raw materials into something useful.)
  • Who are you supporting? And who supports you in being the best version of yourself? Are these in balance? (The Earth element is about support.)

What do you think?

Could you use some help in establishing rock-solid routines or escaping a stagnant rut?

If so, check out my Level Up program to see if it’s a good fit.

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