Rituals
"This is what rituals are for. We do spiritual ceremonies as human
beings in order to create a safe resting place for our most complicated
feelings of joy or trauma, so that we don't have to haul those feelings
around with us forever, weighing us down. We all need such places of
ritual safekeeping. And I do believe that if your culture or tradition
doesn't have the specific ritual you are craving, then you are
absolutely permitted to make up a ceremony of your own devising, fixing
your own broken-down emotional systems with all the do-it-yourself
resourcefulness of a generous plumber/poet.”
-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
Within the short time that I started this Blog Love e-course there was some bit of advice that I felt I needed to apply right away. Elsie suggests that you stick with your own rituals to keep yourself sane with blogging. This advice though can certainly be applied for other aspects of your life; perhaps just to keep you sane in general. I know that we can all have good rituals and possibly bad rituals. I know that I have some bad rituals/habits that I've really been wanting to change so that I can approach life each day with a better mind set.
I found this quote about rituals by Elizabeth Gilbert. I unfortunately could not get through her book. I won't give a book critique, especially since I didn't finish it, but I wasn't feeling all that inspired by her writing. This quote is interesting though, especially about creating your own ceremony that fulfills your need to self preserve.
Since I moved away from St.Louis I've lost a lot of my comfort zone, and I've really deviated from a lot of rituals that I used to have. One ritual that I have been trying to incorporate in my daily routine is daily meditation. For some reason I have been so lazy to really make time for it. So, this morning I got up early, because I tend to just sleep till the last minute and rush out the door. I hate doing that, it totally makes me feel like I haven't really prepared myself for the day. Since I got up early I had time to shower, let my dog outside, feed my pets, and sit down to meditate and actually journal afterwards as well!! I felt so good afterwards, it was like I had already accomplished something for the day. It also allowed me some time to eat breakfast with my hubby before we both left for work. I know that keeping a ritual like this one would truly help start my day out on the right foot, and keep me feeling calmer during the week.
What I believe though is most key to making a ritual really work and sticking with it, is to do it no matter what else is going on in your life. I know Elsie mentions this and I'm sure others recommend this as well. When you keep your ritual and don't let anything else throw you off then you've really started your day off more centered and you put in that special time for yourself.
What other rituals help keep you sane?
~Natasha
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