Rituals

I generally get up between 4:45am and 5:00am each work day morning (depending on how many times I hit the dreaded snooze button!) to meditate. I started earlier this year. I've gone periods of time when I haven't - a day or two, sometimes a week or two - but I always seem to come back to it. I experienced the benefits early on - calmer over all, more likely to be naturally positive in my approach to life, slower to frustrate.



Some days my mind quiets easily and there's a funky zen state that happens, like the moments just before you fall asleep. Other days, my thoughts are persistent and loud, so stillness more elusive. Still, even on the not so good days of meditation, there's this powerful peace about it all.



I light a candle, and incense. Sometimes I have music, sometimes I open the sliding door and listen to the leaves dance or the rain fall. But always, there is something... sacred about it.



The other thing that's become a bit of a ritual is morning coffee with my husband. Our three boys and two dogs make for a busy and noisy house, - full of life - laughter, squabbling siblings, raunchy electric base or guitar wafting up from the basement, barking dogs, squeals of delight and conflict. So, at about 6:00, after I'm ready for work and while the house is still quiet, we sit in the same peaceful space I meditate in, enjoy a coffee together and talk for about a half hour.



There's something grounding about these two rituals, personally and in terms of our.... coupledom - is that a word? *laughing* It is now.



The pace of the world is out of control and there's always so much to juggle that it sometimes feels impossible to keep up and not drop balls. These two simple things have empowered my husband and myself. I'm excited to see what other benefits will come.