How to Cultivate Anchoring Rhythms in a Season of Unknowns (PLUS FREE Journal Prompts Download)
Muscle Memory
Clutch, break, downshift, turn signal, LEFT SIDE.
Arriving back in my adopted country I was nervous to start driving again. I hadn’t touched a stick-shift in 10 months and I certainly wasn’t eager to fight the potholes, police stops, and car-side fruit vendors. But miraculously, subconsciously, it all came back to me. My feet knew when to hit the clutch, my hand knew where to find the gear shift and muscle memory kicked in.
It hasn’t been that easy with everything else. None of the routines of our lives that we left behind, are the same. We had rhythms that took almost 2 years to cultivate. We had community, we had school, we had Church, we had anchors in our schedule that kept us balanced.
We’ve all had to change many times over this year and it’s exhausting. Like teeter-totters bouncing up and down, we’ve been flung around by rapidly changing circumstances and it’s hard to find any sense of equilibrium.
How do we anchor ourselves to rhythms and rituals to create a comforting sense of ‘muscle memory’ while also bracing for the next impact?
5 Anchoring Rhythms
Here are a few anchoring rhythms that have helped me stay sane in all the upheaval and chaos of moving cross-culturally, in the middle of a pandemic:
Walking
I have done every variety of high impact exercise in the last 3 years of my life and always seem to get injured or worn down. But walking has become a needed space of movement, reflection, consumption of healthy podcast content, and distancing from demands of family and responsibilities. The days I walk, I feel better. [Except for near-muggings].
Conversation
I am desperately extroverted. I’ve come to realize how much I rely on others to feel valuable or useful or a myriad of other things. I may be too dependant on it, but I have to also embrace the part of me that just thrives best when being with others. I don’t like communicating over the phone but the voice messages I give and receive with friends over WhatsApp are like a cool breeze on a muggy hot day. Short phone calls, Facetime calls, chats with my husband as we roam our yard, any and all conversations are treasured and I have to fight for time for them every single day.
Creative Expression
We all have ways we express ourselves. Unfortunately, they take the back seat when we are tired and numb and weary. I know I tend to turn on Netflix or some other numbing tactic when I am just done with all the emotional upheaval. But when I actually take the time to write, to paint or experiment in the kitchen, or anything that requires creativity, I am always a thousand times more refreshed. When it’s planned for, I look forward to it and am renewed by it. The mornings I have set aside to just create, are some of my best mornings.
Sabbath
For me this means a day where I put down my lists, I put down my expectations of myself, and I let loose. It means exploring, it means getting out of my house, it means fighting to see and connect with my kids instead of fighting them to do their chores and homeschool. It means trying to sleep in even though allowing the kids free-range access to cereal boxes creates a massive mess. It means pausing to talk to God and be in a space to actually hear from Him. It means good coffee, a good sleep, and a putting down of all the work of the week.
Gratitude
This is not a natural posture for me, believe me. I am an emotive mess of expression. I am a half-empty sort of gal who pretends she’s a realist when really, she’s a pessimist. But I’m trying to give myself grace, I’m trying to learn and re-learn the art of gratitude. When I take time each day to just pause and be still, when I train my eyes to see the favour of God, that’s all I see. A life-giving conversation, a resource at the right time, a wise word, a line of a song, a beautiful line-up of picked flowers from my 4-year-old, all of it is grace. All of it is cause for gratitude. I need to find a way to keep track of all I see. I might just need to start my own gratitude journal if I were organized like that. But no more shoulds. I will just embrace and notice these things and whisper my thanks for them, Looking at the gifts in each day, has been life-giving.
Good rhythms create health and vitality. Good rhythms become like muscle memory that anchors me to the things that I value the most. They only happen when I keep doing them day in and day out. Then when the world turns upside down, for the hundredth time, I am not so caught off guard. They’re not easy, I have to fight for self-discipline. But, I need to keep doing the things that bring me closer to God, closer to my truest self, and better able to serve the world around me.
Cultivating Rhythms
Does your typical day (or week) have a natural rhythm to it? Do you need to create space for rhythms that re-anchor you and bring you closer to God, especially in this never-ending season of uncertainty?
I challenge you to identify 5 rhythms that you want to cultivate in your life.
Be intentional and take the time to carefully think through your rhythms. Be disciplined to cultivate and incorporate these rhythms into your day over the next few weeks. Take note of how these rhythms affect you and those you are in community with.
I can’t wait to hear how God moves in you as you create this intentional space for him in the rhythms of your life!
how to identify your rhythms
If you need some help getting started, I’ve put together 11 journal prompts to help guide you through the process of re-anchoring yourself to rhythms. This free printable includes 11 unique journal prompts, with space for you to put your answers down on paper, as well as a verse and prayer you can meditate on as you invite God to lead you in developing your rhythms.
Fill out the form below and I’ll email you the free printable.
additional resources
Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Hayley Barten
Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons
