Having rituals that you create ahead of time can be the difference between feeling overwhelmed and frustrated or feeling centered and calm.

Because these rituals certainly won’t “happen” by accident, I suggest creating a weekly ritual routine that you can choose from to start your week off strong, on Sundays.

Here’s a look at the 9 Sunday rituals to consider for a better week ahead.

1. Meal plan for the week ahead.

Dinners in a full house can be another thing on your to-do list to dread. Instead of that, get ahead of it (for your own sake!).

One way to do this is to have a certain type of food on every night. For example, Monday is Italian, Tuesday is Mexican, Wednesday is Greek, and so on. Then have one to three dishes for each day that you rotate through.

I do this with my family, and it takes so much of the mind drama out of it—I know what we’re doing on each day, and can easily decide that at the beginning of the week, to make day-of cooking easier.

If this doesn’t work for you, come up with another Sunday meal planning system that does. This will help you feel on top of the week as you think about how nice it is to not have to guess what to make for dinner every day.

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2. Review and update your calendar.

Planning is so important to living out the dream week you want to have. I use a Calendaring system that I teach inside Grow You. The gist of it is to plan in time blocks to the extent that you can, and for the remainder, put items that you want to produce on each day at the top to do in the in between time.

For more time management and planning tools, see these podcast episodes:

3. Practice 10 minutes of silence.

If you find yourself feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, irritated, or triggered, one of the best practices for you to do on a consistent basis is 10 Minutes Of Silence. This is a tool I teach for you to regulate (calm down) your nervous system.

If you’re always “on the go” and never sitting still, yet you want to find calm, you need a practice like this to help your body get into a better state.

For some of my clients, this tool is challenging at first. If it is for you—let it be. It just means it’s working! Think of it like doing push ups. It’s hard in the moment but you’re getting stronger. Keep practicing this and you’ll help yourself get to a calmer state more often.

4. Create a mantra for the upcoming week.

So much of having a “better week” is a mindset, and there’s no better tool for mindset work than practicing mantras that feel true to you. With this practice, you choose a thought that resonates with you and you practice it.

When your mind has something to focus on it will look for evidence that what you’re focused on is true. So focusing on a better feeling thought can be incredibly powerful for helping you show up as the mom you want to be.

Examples of mantras to practice:

  • I can handle any challenge that comes my way this week.
  • I can control how I show up, and that is enough.
  • This week is going to be both amazing and challenging.
  • There’s nothing I can’t handle.
  • This is hard and I can do hard things.
  • I don’t wish it was easier, I wish I was stronger.
  • What a beautiful and magical season this is.
  • Everything is rigged in my favor.
  • I was made for this.

5. Do 30 minutes of “extra” tidying up.

When your brain goes to “all the things you haven’t finished” or the extra projects that aren’t started, it’s going to scarcity and lack. What can be powerful and useful is to create a ritual of doing 30 extra minutes of tidying up on something that isn’t part of your normal routine.

For example, lately, I’ve been really into having clean baseboards. Since this isn’t part of my normal routine and I often don’t choose my time to take care of the baseboards, I’ve found that using a Sunday ritual to wipe down the baseboards feels amazing to me.

It’s a dedicated time for you to do something extra that typically doesn’t get prioritized.

CLICK HERE to download the podcast directory (and get the best time management podcast episodes to listen to.)

6. Move your body.

Movement is so good for your health, as it leaves you feeling better physically and mentally. Movement can also be incredible for releasing tension and emotions that feel stuck in your body.

Create a Sunday ritual where you move your body in a way you don’t normally move it on the other days. For example, if you’re used to going to a workout class twice per week and walking on the other days, Sunday do something completely different, like a 20 minute dance class you can stream from YouTube.

In this way you’re creating a sacred space for you to reenergize every week, which will help you have a better week ahead due to the extra self care.

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7. Have a family meeting.

Having a Sunday ritual of a family meeting can be a way to live more intentionally, as a family.

A family meeting can be for celebrating any wins, going over decisions that need to be made, and discussing challenges.

For example, if money is something that you’re disagreeing about with your spouse, a regular family meeting can be a great time to talk about what’s going on.

Having a specific time of week for having intentional conversations is not only a good ritual but it also helps to make sure nothing goes missed or is dragged out.

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8. Set an intention to laugh.

The way our brains are wired naturally is to make sure we stay alive, which means that we’re always subconsciously scanning for danger. This is useful so that we don’t cross the street when we notice a car coming down it, but it’s not so useful when we’re scanning our safe homes looking for “anything that might be wrong.”

All that is to say, it can feel very hard to make space for lightness, play, laughter, and fun. And yet that’s exactly the type of ritual that will help you shift your mood into feeling better.

Set a specific intention to laugh on Sundays. You don’t have to know the how, just hold it in your heart that this is something you want to experience. You’ll be amazed at how your brain looks for ways to laugh more. This is the power of intention.

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9. Journal about the woman and mom you want to be.

To have a truly better week ahead, you have to practice mentally rehearsing that in your mind. Because when you feel empowered, you can handle anything that comes your way. This is a practice that you can get good at regardless of your circumstances.

I teach a method of Mindful Journaling inside Grow You. As soon as you join the membership, you get the complete course, that walks you through how to create a mindful journaling practice to rehearse the most empowering and compassionate mindset for your circumstances.

If you’d also like to download some free journal prompts, you can do so here: 75 Journal Prompts For Moms

A Final Note

Having a set of Sunday rituals that you (as mom) can do is useful because it will help you feel empowered to take on the week ahead. As a byproduct of that, you’ll set the tone for your home, which can have a beautiful ripple effect for everyone else. {That’s why I like to say you’re the CCO—Chief Culture Officer—of your household!}