I like the concept of rituals versus routines.
The official definition of a ritual according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:
ritual
noun
: a formal ceremony or series of acts that is always performed in the same way
: an act or series of acts done in a particular situation and in the same way each time
…and if you read further down, you also get this medical definition:
rou·tine
noun \rü-ˈtēn\
: a regular way of doing things in a particular order
: a boring state or situation in which things are always done the same way
: a series of things (such as movements or jokes) that are repeated as part of a performance
I do need a degree of order in my life even though I am on this mission to live through my senses this summer. And as I began establishing a new morning routine, I realized that “routine” wasn’t the right word. I was looking to create a “ritual” for myself – a ceremonial and sacred way to start my day in keeping with living each moment of my day fully alive. With a routine, one can become automatic and unconscious quite easily: wake up, wash face, change clothes, make breakfast… It is exactly its definition: “a boring state or situation in which things are always done the same way.”
If each day was going to be a heightened sensory experience, shouldn’t I start it as soon as I wake up? How should I greet the day? I mean, really greet it? How do I start each day feeling like the return of daylight and waking up to it is a blessing in and of itself making the day that comes equally as special? How do I make it a daily personal wake-up call not just to the morning but to life, to gratitude, and to love?
(View from my back deck.)
Sounds lofty, doesn’t it? For goodness sakes, it’s just the morning – wake up and get up and continue about your day full of lists and schedules. The earth turning towards the sun to signal morning in our hemisphere is a fact of life. We count our days on earth by this process and depending on your age, you have awakened to this grand shift to light every day since you were born (although there were days that I slept the day away in my youth in a dark basement bedroom). We wake up most days taking this for granted and go on with our days that often seem never-ending because we get lost in routine.
Many ancient civilizations and peoples celebrated the dawn and the return of the sun with festivals and religious ceremonies. Egyptians worshipped the sun god Ra who, at sunrise, was Khepera. Khepera means “to become” often depicted with a beetle on his head.
Khepera is the dawn embodied, a god who rolls the sun across the sky much as the dung beetle rolls a ball of dung, pushing the ball into a hole and laying her eggs there so that her emerging larvae can feast. Long ago, Egyptians noticed the hatchlings geysering up from the earth, heaving themselves into existence, and decreed Khepera a god with a gift of self-invention and rebirth.
– Diane Ackerman, Dawn Light
Self-invention and rebirth. A new opportunity each day to re-do, re-try, re-commit, re-invent, and to be re-born. Each and every single day. I want to start with that intention as soon as my eyes pop open with actions that make the beginning of my day a ritual in celebrating the re-turn of light.
For the past week, I am trying this new morning ritual to start my day:
1. Wake up before the children and greet the day. This was easier in the winter and I haven’t made much of an effort to do so this summer. Upon waking, I say hello to the blue/grey/cloudy sky and I take a moment to sit in the light of dawn/daybreak for a few minutes – absorbing the light.
2. Read a chapter from this book:
Now I am finishing up Week 4 in this program and I do love the return to 15 minute sessions but I have to admit that the burst of energy I get is not the same as the previous program. This is an easy strength program and I feel good afterwards and my mood and patience is still positively affected. I just know that pushing my body to safe but uncomfortable limits make me feel great and when I have an off day for training, I make sure that I counter that with some type of physical activity outside like playing soccer with the kids or going for a bike ride.
My morning ritual ceremonial items: My morning read, two journals – one for morning pages and the other for directed writing, books that help me create, and my two kettlebells which the kids have named “Cloudy” and “Blue” :
And the two things I drink first thing in the morning – 1. Water with lemon, apple cider vinegar, baking soda, sea salt and 2. Coffee (Of course.)..always in a mason jar and my mug:
If I can get these 5 things done in the morning, ending at whatever time I end at, I am calmer and more patient throughout the day. I move a little bit more deliberately and can choosing gentle words become easier as the days progress. Being present in my morning ritual also sets the tone for the rest of the day. I am more open to spontaneity and embracing the unexpected. I also don’t remain in negative spaces for long periods of time especially when the kids are having a rough time. I have a newly found optimism for the day. Not for all the days to come, just today.
This 2-hour ritual may seem self-indulgent and it is. It really is. I am indulging in my life. I am fully taking pleasure in this one life I have. And I want the kids to do that too. There can be a balance of needs for the rest of the day, a balance of work and play, but the early morning is mine. All mine. I can have an evening ritual with the kids and Ever-Patient, touching base before the end of the day, saying brief farewells until the morning, giving all reassuring kisses – a send-off to dreamland.
But that dawn is mine. There is a comfort to know that I can have this intimate moment with myself and the first light of day – a chance to become “en-lightened” over and over again.
Alive moments can be anytime, anywhere. If I closely watch any natural wonder, really watch it, nonjudgmentally, in the present moment, noting its nuances, how it looks in changing light, or on different days, yet remains recognizably the same, then the world becomes dearer and less trying, and priorities rearrange themselves with an almost audible clicking. – Diane Ackerman, Dawn Light
Try devising a morning ritual for yourself that delights your senses as you greet the day. Can you hear that “audible clicking” of priorities re-shuffling themselves? Does the world look a little brighter?
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