Do you have familiar rituals that you engage in each day?
I think many of us do, although we might not describe the actions as a ritual.
If we were all Adrian Monk, the quirky, obsessive-compulsive detective character on the USA series, "Monk", we would observe many rituals per day. Monk can make a ritual out of most any common household task; washing dishes, drying dishes, hanging up his clothes, putting away groceries.....you name it and Monk has a ritual for it.
There can be great personal comfort in a ritual. Repetitive motions and actions provide us with a sense of security and comfort by doing a task the same way each time. For some, each day may begin with the ritual of prayer, meditation, and reading scripture. Others may start their day with exercise and meditation. The end of each day may have its own set of rituals such as reading from a book, taking a relaxing bath, soaking in a hot tub, journaling about the day, changing from work clothes to lounge-wear or that favorite robe or sweats.
For me, part of my end-of-day ritual is washing my face, taking out my contacts and changing from the day's clothing to some, old weathered article of clothing that shouts "Relax!". Those actions are like erasing all of the day's text on the whiteboard and starting from scratch, mentally and emotionally. The removal of my contact lenses is like a breath of fresh air to my eyes and provides me with an powerful energy boost.
If you do not have a practiced set of motions and activities for either the beginning or end of the day - maybe both - consider establishing a.m. and p.m. rituals. Yoga is a subtle relaxant and leveler for me, plus it provides my aging muscles with mobility that I sorely (no pun intended) need. Rituals ground us, help us keep our sanity and provide us with emotional and mental releases of a positive nature.
Oops, I forgot to include my rituals of reading the newspaper with coffee, blogging each day, eating chocolate, sitting in my dad's chair..........did I mention eating chocolate?
Ancora imparo
