“Living as prayer. I think that is when I am at my best. Because seeing through prayer provides a remarkable clarity. Not in the doctrinal sense, but because it is, at best, the lens of a love for every tattered inch of this earth.”
~ Imani Perry

Photo by Gordon Plant

While many of our communal rituals have been paused during the pandemic, there’s an opportunity in our relative isolation to create more ritual in our individual, daily lives. Sometimes the simplest way to begin is to consider a daily act that could offer greater nourishment if intentionally ritualized. What if, for example, instead of racing through your morning tea or coffee, you made a small ritual of boiling the water, grinding the coffee beans, filling your cup, and then savoring those first sips with a grateful heart. How might this change the experience? While your tea may taste the same, is there more spaciousness in your mind or heart? And because rituals come alive in their repetition, what if you practiced this small ritual each day? At the end of a week, what might feel different?

• Begin with Gratitude. Begin by returning to yesterday’s simple ritual of centering in your breath and completing the phrase: “In this moment, I’m grateful…” If you’re doing this as a written ritual, continue adding to your reflection.
• Transform Habit to Ritual. From this centered place of gratitude, we invite you to identify a daily habit or practice that lends itself to reframing as a ritual — something that you do anyway that could be approached with greater intention: drinking your tea or coffee, your daily phone call to an aging parent, your evening walk, tucking your child in at night, even the many times you wash your hands. Ritual depends on many things but very much on intention. How will you go about this daily action with greater intention and a more grateful heart?
• Reflect. At the end of the day or week, take time to reflect on what shifted for you when you made this small but significant reframing from habit to ritual. Ritual often opens us up to layers of appreciation and meaning that aren’t as available when we’re simply going through the motions. What emerged for you? Was there a shift in perspective, a deepening of appreciation or sense of sufficiency?

Deepening Resource:

Ode to Lemons by Michelle Courtney Berry

We invite you to share your reflections below.

Enjoy the full seven-day Tending the Rituals of Our Lives practice.