Don't Get Stuck in a Rut
Routines are great for getting mindless work completed around your house -- sort the mail immediately when you get home from work, clean up after dinner so there aren't dirty dishes on the counter over night, put your dirty clothes in the clothes hamper. The more mindful and less tedious a task, however, and making that task into a routine can make life seem boring and monotonous. For example, if you were to cook the exact same meal every night for dinner, your spouse and kids would eventually revolt and head to the local pizza parlor without you.
Unfortunately, when our energy levels are low, we want to make our mindful activities more like our mindless responsibilities. We don't want to think about what to make for dinner, we just want dinner to magically appear.
Instead of making routines of mindful activities, put systems in place to help you accomplish these tasks. For example, on Saturday mornings, map out your meal plan for the coming week and make sure you have all of the ingredients on hand for these dinners. Your meal plan is the system that will help you to make interesting, delicious, and nutritious meals during the week.
Another example would be to create a list of fun things you can do with your family in two hours or less. This way, when you have a free evening, you don't sit around talking about what you could be doing -- instead you quickly pick something from the list and immediately start enjoying your time together. Put the list in a convenient area so everyone in the family can add to it when inspiration strikes. I also keep a list of date ideas (museum exhibits that spark our interest, new restaurants we want to try, bands that we like that are coming to the area) that my husband and I review to decide when we want to spring for a babysitter. Having the system in place to capture ideas keeps us from getting stuck in a rut.
Do you have systems in place to help you with your mindful activities? Would creating a system help you from feeling like these activities are boring and monotonous? What do you do to stay out of a rut?
