Ritual of Reflecting: How to Create a Moment of Reset
For every high point in life, there’s a low one. These inevitable ups and downs may be the most natural thing, but they can still erode your sense of self, causing you to feel trapped inside your own suffering. If you try to control trauma and tragedy — no matter where it falls on a spectrum of intensity — it can derail your healthy routines, stall forward momentum, and thwart your good intentions. During your next low point, instead of trying to control your pain, lean into reflection, using it to make choices and create a moment of reset.
Edith Eger, Slovakian-born American psychologist and Holocaust survivor, says, “There is no hierarchy of suffering. There’s nothing that makes my pain worse or better than yours. Change is about noticing what’s no longer working and stepping out of the familiar, imprisoning patterns.” In The Choice: Embrace the Possible, she suggests that trying to control your pain is futile and only begets more pain, but what you can control is your response.
Whether we drift away from the routines that serve us (for good or bad reasons!) or we’re yanked away by trauma, individual choices become vital. Focusing on mini reset rituals can help you make better choices and ultimately, escape a mental prison of your own making.
8 Examples of Mini Resets
Before covering examples of mini resets, it’s important to note that these are not meant to be quick fixes. Return to these moments regularly, making them a part of your lifestyle, and every so often, perform a macro reset by identifying the behavior or routine you want to change and investing the time to replace it or create a new one.
- Do something physical like take a walk, get on a rowing machine, or break out a few jumping jacks.
- Listen to music whether it’s through your headphones, in the car on the radio, or blasting through the speakers in your house.
- Dance and sing (with or without aforementioned music).
- Practice positive visualization or do a short mindfulness meditation.
- Play with or snuggle your pets. If you don’t have pets, consider stopping by a shelter. They’re usually looking for volunteers to walk or play with the animals.
- Gather up your favorites quotes or get an oracle deck from the bookstore and use them as inspiration or as a way to direct your intentions
- Put pen to paper and journal. Whatever comes to mind, write it down!
- Watch a comedy clip, a funny cat video, or a feel-good movie — anything that triggers feelings of joy or comfort.
Mind Your Mind
When it comes to making a mini reset, create a version that works well within any sized slice of time — 10, 20, 30 minutes, or longer. Use these moments of reset and reprieve to find the space to think. As Edith Eger says, “We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know what’s going to happen, but no one can take away from you what you put in your own mind.”
