Create Your Own Rituals

[Heather]

~~taken from Simplify your Life by Elaine St. James

The type of ritual I'm referring to here is any special thing you can do on a regular basis that you look forward to, and that you think about with a happy heart.

I have a friend who has developed a special ritual for getting up in the morning. She wakes up a few minutes before daybreak and makes herself a special cup of tea, just the way she likes it with milk and honey. Then, winter or summer, rain or shine, she takes her tea and the huge comforter from her bed out to her screened porch. There, wrapped in her toastie blanket, she sips her tea and watches the sights and listens to the sounds of dawn. She never lets anything interfere with this quiet, sacred time. She knows that even if the rest of the day turns hectic, she'll have one memory of something being exactly the way she likes it.

It's possible that you've been working so hard and moving so fast that you haven't taken the time to incorporate some personalized moments into your day. If that's the case, take some time right now to think about a few special rituals you could create either on your own or with your family that would make each day memorable. And then start doing them.
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I think this is a great idea. Every morning I would get up, go downstairs and get some juice and bring it back upstairs to my comfy chair in my room and read some devotions or my Bible, it was a peaceful way to start the day...I have got away from that and will start again. I'm going to think of one for the evening to end the day with.

[forestdale]

heather, I love simple rituals too. I do something similar with tea on my front verandah. I come to FV and check it out, then as the sun is rising, I make my tea and sit on the verandah watching as darkness turns to daylight. It sets me up for the day.

I also love feeling the water from the shower on me when I first get in the shower. It's amazing how good it feels on your skin if you concentrate on it.

[guest2]

This may sound strange, but one of my rituals is to intertwince my feet with my husbands before I go to sleep. I also do this in the morning if he doesn't have to get up early for work. It's kind of like holding hands and very comforting and intimate.