Do most people seem to have rituals? Do you have one? Like morning or a weekend ritual? I don’t remember having a ritual ever. I have always lived a spontaneous life where I make decisions in the moment. And most of such decisions don’t repeat day after day, weekend after weekend. I just like newness.
However, for the last few months I have been following a ritual. I usually go on a run most Saturday mornings, then I get a bagel and sit in this public park. This has been somewhat consistent for some time and I have added writing to the ritual. Now, I run, get the bagel, eat the bagel (you see, get and eat are two activities on their own. Disagree? Well you should see the line at my bagel shop) and then write. Being true to my spirit, I spontaneously choose what to write about. For instance, writing about rituals following a ritual (I am somewhat proud of this sentence).
I wonder if it’s better to have rituals? I don’t have internet access in the park so I can’t peek into humanity’s consciousness to know an answer. Tangent: The no internet is part of the process. The internet is such a gift but like humans, it has its cons. I yearn for an analog life, living in the moment so I create time to disconnect from the omnipresent information world. These days, I don’t wear headphones on subways or while walking as I want to hear my thoughts and have opportunities to have conversations with people around me. I wish more people would limit headphones in public spaces and talk to people around them. Phew, that was a long long tangent, proving a glimpse of how my mind works.
Coming back to the question of Are rituals any good? Well, I don’t know. Okay I know you weren’t reading this for an I don’t know. I’ll give a better answer from my experience. Before I started this Saturday morning ritual, I was never looking forward to anything. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to the day and the anticipation of what I am gonna do. But now, I am looking forward to the bagel (buying and eating), iced coffee (Tangent: did I tell you I make my own iced coffee as part of the ritual? I am frugal so I stopped buying mediocre coffee from the nearby cafe and started carrying my amazing Bluestone lane coffee in an insulated tumbler. It tastes better, I save money and no wasted plastic cups.), and writing.
I have always known how important it is to be good at writing but like most things, knowing doesn’t translate to doing. This ritual has helped me carve out time for writing. It’s fun to let my mind wander and write about that journey. Like all minds, my mind wanders a lot like a lot and it’s hard to slow it down to write about it but this is also a muscle, the one that’s really weak for me. And like all gullible muscles, it gets better with training. So, I am training it, Saturday after Saturday. Hope it’s getting better. Well, this is my second post of the day so I guess it is.
Anyway, I am enjoying this ritual and hope to continue it for as long as possible. It might not be exactly this as I might move away from the bagel shops, stop liking this bagel (catastrophe!) or it might just be too cold to sit in this public park. But that’s the beauty, I can change the details but keep the structure. I would keep the writing part alive because it’s fun. So you, the reader, can expect more of such posts. Good weekend!