This episode explores the importance of creating and maintaining personal rituals to support creative work and overall wellbeing. Taking inspiration from Toni Morrison's dawn writing practice, we examine how discipline and consistency in our daily routines can enhance our creativity and mental clarity.
Morning rituals like making the bed, hydrating, taking vitamins, and preparing a healthy breakfast create a foundation for productive creative work
Evening wind-down routines help transition the mind and body toward restful sleep
Consistent rituals have positive psychological benefits that support creative practice
Everyone's creative ritual is different - some need journaling, exercise, or sensory elements like candles or music
Creating boundaries around time spent consuming versus creating content can unlock more creative energy
Establishing a sacred practice for your creative work grants you the space and energy to fully explore your potential
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Testing testing one, two, three. Testing testing one, two, three. Hey friend, welcome back to the show. I'm so happy that you're here, Thank you for tuning in and, if you haven't already, be sure to rate and review the show wherever you're listening right now, and share this episode with a friend, and share this podcast with a friend. Since it's Women's History Month, I want to highlight an incredible Black woman you should know about.
Aliya Cheyanne:
Toni Morrison's writing ritual was sacred to her. Toni Morrison had a strict writing ritual. She woke up at dawn before her kids got up and wrote before the world interrupted her thoughts. Her discipline and consistency helped her produce masterpieces that changed literature forever. She believed in honoring the creative process with discipline and intention. Today, we'll talk about how we can do the same. Think about how you can establish a small creative ritual inspired by Morrison's dedication.
Aliya Cheyanne:
Ritual is incredibly important in creative work. Ritual is incredibly important in creative work. Countless creatives and entrepreneurs have expressed how their routines and their rituals help to keep them sane and energized and focused, disciplined and organized around everything that's on their plate. I have gone through different seasons of rituals so many times and in this current season, my rituals center starting my day off well, structuring my time accordingly to get everything done that I need to get done during the day and ending my nights with ease and preparation for bed. Now, what I do exactly day to day may change, but certain things don't. I get up and I start my day with my dog. I spread my bed, I drink water, I take my vitamins for the day. I'll do my best to get in a quick workout, take my dog on a walk, come back and get cleaned up for the day with my shower, my skincare, and most days I like to prepare myself a healthy breakfast. As of late, I'm kind of fixated on the same breakfast. I never get tired of it. I love an omelet or an egg scramble with spinach and feta cheese. I usually will have some vegetarian sausage on the side and a couple of slices of oat bread for toast. I'll usually have a big cup of tea with that, and after I've taken care of myself and my dog first thing in the morning, I usually set in for my workday. Whether that's working with clients or working on my creative projects, Depending on how I'm feeling, I'll usually create space for other rituals and routines that support me.
Aliya Cheyanne:
So whether that be grounding in nature depending on the weather or journaling if that feels right for me to do. Making some time to read, whether that be a book or catching up on news because it's hard for me to watch news these days, but a lot of times I don't mind digesting it by reading by the end of the night. After dinner, after I've had some time to unwind and relax, I start to prepare my place and myself for bed. I clean up any dishes in the sink, I tidy up my space, I let my dog out, I let my dog Stormy Girl out for her last potty of the night, and then I begin to unwind for myself. That usually means my skincare routine, taking care of anything I need to take care of in the restroom, transitioning my bed, taking any extra pillows off, pulling down covers, turning on my little salt lamp, turning on a little sound machine that plays noise for me to help fall asleep to. I eventually want to be one of these people that puts my phone in another room or doesn't touch the phone 30 minutes before bed. But I am not there yet. So usually part of me decompressing is a little scrolling or maybe listening to a podcast, until I start to feel pretty sleepy and then I put my phone down and I fall asleep pretty easy.
Aliya Cheyanne:
Now these might sound like mundane things, but they work really well for me. They help me to feel my best. They help me to feel my most energized. They help me to stay grounded and centered and to keep some degree of routine and ritual and structure about my days so that I can accomplish everything that I need to accomplish. These rituals support me in my creative work because when I'm feeling my best and my most grounded and my most centered, I'm often feeling the most inspired to create. When I'm taking care of myself, the floodgates to creativity burst open.
Aliya Cheyanne:
Now, everyone's creative ritual is different. Some people are religious journalers. They cannot start their day without journaling. Some people need to go for a run first thing in the morning because it helps them to clear their head and feel grounded and centered for the day. Everyone is different. Some folks love to light a candle or an incense. Some folks love to light a candle or burn a scent first thing in the morning because that helps them to ease into their day. Rituals work because they have positive psychological benefits that support us. Rituals work because they have positive psychological benefits that support us. Healthy rituals work because they have positive psychological benefits that work to support us. So it's important for each of us to master. So it's important for each of us to create and to master our own creative rituals.
Aliya Cheyanne:
If you're a writer, maybe that means having discipline about writing every day. Maybe some days you write more than others. Maybe you have to give yourself grace if you've been writing constantly for months and you need to take a two-week break and then jump back into it again. It's a process. If you're an artist, maybe that means creating a piece every day or every week. Maybe that means acknowledging how you might feel in a moment, but having the discipline to create anyway, because as you create, because in creating, because by creating you are also healing something within yourself and tapping into your childlike and playful energy and your creative energy, and in doing so, that could inspire additional great works. Maybe your own creative ritual demands that you spend a little less time scrolling or consuming other forms of content and repurposing that time and reallocating that time into creating for yourself and others.
Aliya Cheyanne:
Whatever it looks like for you, having a consistent, solid creative ritual creates a sacred practice for your work to unfold and grants you the space, time and creative energy and creativity to do so. So don't cheat yourself. Be a little selfish with your time. Create a ritual for you to pour into the things that light you up. I challenge you to create a ritual for your next creative session. Let me know what it is in a review to the show or in a text to the show. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the show. If this episode resonated with you, please be sure to tell a friend. To tell a friend and to rate and review the podcast wherever you're listening to it right now. Thank you for lending me your time, your energy and your ears, and I appreciate you for being here. Have a great rest of your day or night and I'll catch you on the next episode. Bye.
