22 Comments

Ritual is crucial, such wonderful phrasing. I especially love your thoughts on home. It really should be a sentimental and calm space to dwell💌

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Home as a sentimental and calm space is exactly it. A home should be a place of rootedness and safety and stability and I think weaving ritual into the space plays a big part in that.

Thank you Julianne (: appreciate you reading and being here

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Beautifully expressed. We become what we do everyday, and the stability of daily routines is the foundation for great things to be done.

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Thank you Jean (: really appreciate you reading & the kind words

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This is all familiar and consistent with my experience with repetition. I ran every day for 270 days straight. The ritual of getting out there daily showed me so many sides of my moods. I ran mostly the same path and around the same time each day. I was able to notice the different versions of myself that showed up to the ritual. I also found watching the seasons slowly shift day in and day out quite beautiful. All to say, I appreciate how a ritual is constant, the same but the you that shows up to that constant is interesting to observe each day.

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Thank you Janet, for reading and such a beautiful reflection here.

Wow, 270 days straight is really something. I love your point on how the consistency, the sameness of a ritual allows you to be perceptive of what else is different. In you, or the wheel of the seasons. There's no better way to generate ideas than to walk a familiar path.

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“Even quietly sacred. It's all about how one chooses to pay attention.”

So beautiful Tommy. All of it.

A ritual of mine is reading your prose on Saturday mornings, with my dog and coffee at my side, in silence before the sun and my family are up.

I’m grateful to have built a ritual on you. It feels sacred. 🙏

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That was the exact image in my head when I first began writing on here 3.5 years ago (and first titled my Substack "saturday mornings"). Making my words into something worthy of reading on a Saturday morning with a coffee and a dog as the sun rises. It brings a big smile to my face to hear that come true. Thank you James (:

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"Rituals are sources of stability and safety and deep satisfaction in everyday life. A refuge amidst the chaos of the world." Such beauty, thank you for channeling this sentiment.

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Thank you Andjelka (: appreciate you reading & so happy it resonated with you

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Every article I read of yours brings tears to my eyes🥹 thank you.

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Thank you Sena, seriously means a lot to hear that (:

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I was just explaining to someone my morning pour-over coffee ritual. They kept saying, "But that takes so much time!" After doing something 1,000 times, it doesn't, but that's not the point.

I like how you mention by paying attention, or paying attention in a different way, we can make these things sacred. Great writing!

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I love that anecdote Sam. Rituals shouldn’t be about productivity or whatever hustle culture nonsense but being grounded and calm. Pure enjoyment. For the sake of enjoyment itself.

Thank you for reading & the kind words (:

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Your writing always feels like a warm embrace after an exchange of meaningful words. I have been thinking a lot about rituals, and their importance in everyday life. As I dive into my first full-time job, I want more than ever to create rituals that inspire me to start the day with excitement and gratitude. Routine is always something I've struggled with, but the idea that tender words such as 'rituals' are hiding within the strict boundaries of the word 'routine' doesn't make it sound so scary. Thank you.

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Thank you Abbie - really appreciate you reading & just being here.

I think routines have become kinda ruined by modern hustle culture and productivity nonsense. I think the last thing rituals - and probably anything you do in the morning - should be about is productivity. Rituals are stabilizers, I think. Rituals are for pure enjoyment.

Best of luck with the new job (:

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Rituals are stabilizers in life. They can bring great comfort. Enjoyed how you described your surroundings, both inside and out.

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Stabilizers exactly Monica. Amidst all the chaos and instability, they're things you can still confidently call your own. Thank you for reading & your words here, as always (:

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Thanks for this reminder, you put it so graciously 🤎

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Thank you Liliana (: appreciate you being here & so happy it resonated

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Rituals…when it gets monotonous at times I like to change my routine, shake things up a bit but then always crave a return to the familiar, that sacred routine that seems to make everything better. Great article. Very soothing 🩵

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Thank you Grace (: appreciate you being here & reading

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