DAY 1

This is your first mini challenge to help you build a sustainable ritual. Rituals are powerful intentional practices that help keep you centered and grounded. Research conducted on performance in sports psychology demonstrates that performing rituals and routines improves our attention and execution, as well as increases emotional stability and confidence. Rituals also help people manage hardship and loss--anything from the loss of a loved one to the loss of a job or even the lottery. Rituals help us build internal confidence and resilience. 

For today's challenge, I welcome you to grab your journal or take out your phone and make a voice note by responding to these prompts so that you can understand why rituals matter to you: 

Why are rituals important to you?

What rituals are you currently practicing/ committed to? What’s working well about them?

What do you find helpful about having a ritual? 

What do you notice happens when you fall out of practice from a ritual?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

DAY 2

Today's challenge is all about helping you get clear on the single most important ritual you want to commit to for the next few months. Once you find yourself consistent and grounded, you can add more practices into the mix.

What practice do you want to commit to?

What’s your why? Why is this ritual important to you? Dig deep.

Make sure this is meaningful to you, not just because everyone else is doing it, or because you feel like you “should” do it. 

My current consistent ritual is my meditation practice. I am so deeply committed to this practice, because I feel my best self when I complete my morning meditation practice. I feel less anxious and reactive. My why is because I know it helps me stay more present, curious and kind with myself and my family, and I am able to be more flexible. I also notice that it helps me pay attention to what and how I am nourishing my body. It overall helps me feel like my best and highest self. I feel my most authentic self because I can hear and feel myself on a deeper level without the noise of the external world.


Grab your journal and select the ritual you want to commit to for the next few months. Listen to what your body, heart and soul are yearning for.


Now share your why! Be as detailed as you can. Explore why this ritual is important to you and why you want to devote your time and energy towards it. Connecting to our inner why is so important because we learn where our intrinsic motivation stems from.

Share your ritual and why with us in the comments below!

DAY 3

Values are our North Star that help us get clear on what type of meaningful action we want to take. Values help us cut through the noise of life and build inner confidence because we are acting from a place of purpose. 

It’s time to select your values. Review the suggested list of values below (or feel free to make up your own). You might notice there are many values that feel important to you, but I welcome you to narrow it down to just 3. Try to get as clear as possible. When we live life in alignment to our values, we feel a greater sense of ease, flow, meaning, accomplishment and more. 

What VALUES of yours do you get to live/embody by honoring this ritual? Said in another way, when you perform this ritual, what value(s) of yours are you honoring? 

Share your top 3 values with us in the comments.

DAY 4

Day 4 is where we get to start to design when and where you want to perform your ritual. Having a specific place and space can help you stay consistent.

It helps break down any analysis paralysis that might happen in the mind, and gives you clarity of when and where to perform your ritual. It’s like knowing what aisle in the supermarket you want to go to and not get distracted or overwhelmed by all of the options and shinny products.

It’s so fun to see how creative people get because everyone’s spaces and lives are so different and beautifully unique. Some Centered in the City members do their meditation in the parking lot before they go into work. Others have a specific area of their bedroom or nook in their house they love because it has the right vibe. 

Part of the science of building habits is thinking about a technique called Habit Stacking.

Now I personally don’t love the word ‘habit’ because it feels like I am on autopilot. However, we will use this scientifically proven method to support you in building a sustainable and consistent ritual.

Habit stacking refers to building a new practice in relationship to a practice you are already consistent with. For instance, making coffee in the morning. 

Follow the steps below in your journal to design your ritual:

Step 1. Think about what time of day you want to commit to your practice. What’s going to best fit in your typical and ideal schedule. Is it the morning? Lunch time? After work? Before bed?

Step 2. Think about a cue that gets to be your reminder trigger to perform your ritual. You want to stack this new ritual to a practice you are already consistent with. For example, in the morning after I brush my teeth; after my last meeting of the day; in the evening after my kids go to bed; after I made my evening cup of tea, etc.

Step 3. Pick your space. Think about where you want to perform this ritual. Where in your home/car/office, etc. do you see yourself wanting to create a special designated place? (ex. your bedroom, your couch, a special chair, corner of your office, etc). This gets to be your sacred space, so think about what feels good, exciting, welcoming, inspiring and realistic. 

Share with us in the comments below the space and place you’ve picked.

DAY 5

What are potential obstacles that might prevent you from staying committed to your practice? (Let's name them to tame them.) What are some potential strategies of how to navigate them so they don't hold you back?

In your journal, create a similar T-chart and strategize how you want to meet your obstacles so they don’t throw you off your practice. This is real life. Life is going to happen and you will feel challenged to stay committed to your practice. However, when you can call out potential blind spots, you can be more prepared to manage them and have a plan to get back to your center.  

Share your potential obstacles and how you plan to navigate them with us below in the comments.

DAY 6

Today’s challenge is about using the power of visualization to perform your ritual. Research demonstrates that athletes who visualize their game or course before the race actually perform better.

We will use this same technique to support you being able to visualize and embody this new ritual you have built. Practicing visualization helps make this practice feel real and like it is already set in motion. It also gives your intuition a moment to feel this process and make sure it flows with ease. 

Visualize yourself in the practice of this ritual. Notice what time of day it is. What activity or cue did you just complete? Where do you go to practice your ritual?

Remind yourself why this ritual is important to you. Connect to the values you are honoring by following through with the action. See and feel the space you walk into. Imagine how your mind and body will feel after your practice. Connect to this “mind-forward” quality of how good it feels to stay committed to honoring yourself and your intentions.

Complete this Mad Lib exercise to support you visualizing your practice:

Visualize your most ideal ritual practice. It is ______ (time of day). You just completed _____________  (what activity?). This gets to be your cue to travel to__________ (place and space) to begin your ritual practice. Take a moment to look around your place and space. Notice how it makes you feel. You love having __________________________  (materials/ lighting/ props/ smells) etc. to help set the energy you want. You perform your ritual and afterwards you feel _________________. You notice that having taken the time, energy and attention to perform this ritual creates _____________ ripples into the rest of your day. You notice that staying committed to this practice affects the way you interact with____________ (what people?) today.  You feel ___________ in your body. You gave yourself permission to ________________ as a reminder that this is a practice, it is not about being perfect. You want to thank and celebrate yourself by saying these words:__________________. You are looking forward to deepening your ritual and practicing it again_____________(next day/time you are committed to practicing).

Take a moment to re-read this. Notice how this flow feels when you make it a reality in your writing.  Make any adjustments to your ritual that support it feeling more easeful. 

Share your takeaways with us in the comments below.

Congrats! You made it to Day 7!!! Today is all about celebrating! Celebrating yourself for staying committed to this ritual building practice. You now have a kickass ritual to begin!

Feel free to share your ritual here with the Centered in the City community. It is so fun and inspiring to see what everyone is practicing. It is empowering to know you have a like-minded community alongside you.

Also, make sure to celebrate that you designed this practice with the people you love and the people that are closest with you.

It is amazing what happens when you share your excitement with others. The love and excitement continues to grow and these people can be supportive stewards along your journey so you know you are not alone and have additional accountability. Want to bring another friend along for the Centered in the City journey? Invite them to Centered in the City here.

Explore the ritual resources in the Centered in the City platform to support you getting started and staying consistent with your practice. New holistic resources are added every week and once a month I host a live Connection Call on bonus topics.

In addition to your ritual, you can always sign into your account and simply ask yourself, how do I want to feel in this moment? Or you can navigate by selecting preferred content or desired length of time.

Let your inner wisdom guide you and trust the process.

Feel free to share your comments and experiences with the Centered in the City community along the journey, in the comment sections. We all love reading and hearing how your ritual journey is going for you o how the practices in this platform are supporting you. 

I am so glad you are here. Take a deep breath with me as you take this next exciting step.