Rituals

by Cheng-Ling Chen — January 30, 2008

I read a short article recently on the subject of daily rituals and how important they can be for our sanity. In our busy lives filled with information and sensory overload, rituals help ground and center us. I like the idea of doing something simple to reconnect with myself amidst all the daily distractions. One of my rituals is breakfast.

Mornings I am downstairs earlier than my husband. I brew tea and make a fruit plate with sliced banana and whatever else is in season, like pears and apples recently. My cat nudges her head against my leg then sits close by, watching me with her mysterious, blue eyes. As I give her fresh water and kibbles, I hear familiar noises from upstairs: the buzzing of my husband's electric toothbrush, then his razor, and the closet door opening and closing. In a few moments he comes downstairs and bids me good morning with a kiss. I set out a simple breakfast, and we sit down to break the day together.

Each morning is the same, and I have come to expect this routine. Though mundane, it gives us a few moments of peace, anchoring us before we go separate ways to deal with the day's inevitable complications. However crazy it gets out there today, the ritual serves as a reminder that we will come back to each other and start tomorrow together anew. On those mornings when work or something else gets in the way of breakfast, I feel adrift, like the day has gotten away from me even before it started.

My morning breakfast is a simple ritual. Others have more elaborate ones like journaling, breathing exercises when they first wake, reading a book or drinking a glass of wine before bedtime, taking a short walk after dinner, going to the gym during the lunch hour.

What's your ritual? How do you draw energy from it for your everyday?