Rituals abound in my life and not all of them are spiritual. Classically, I think of ritual in the sense of a devotional or religious activity, like weekly Sunday morning church. The habit of just going to the church at the same time every week is part of the ritual, followed by the myriads of smaller baby rituals during the ceremony itself. There is the opening hymn, the procession of ordained officials down the aisles to stand at the altar, the opening prayer, the call for alms, the giving of bread and wine, the sermon, and all the other hymns sprinkled throughout the hour or so long service. This is a capital R ritual in the traditional sense.
(Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Rutland, Vermont)
Rituals can encompass the secular however, as they can be any repetitive behavior we purposefully repeat over and over again, until the actions become automatic and unconscious. And these rituals, even if unpleasant to start, are usually good for us. As Twyla Thorpe states in her phenomenal book The Creative Habit, “turning something into a ritual eliminates the question - why am I doing this? or - whether I like it.” There are many rituals we do automatically, like brushing and flossing our teeth (well, at least most of us do the first, maybe not all do the second, unless you keep hearing from your dentist like I do how much your gums are receding). Then there are rituals like making your bed (ingrained in me as a child; can’t leave my bedroom without doing it), using a napkin at the table (ingrained in me from my husband - thank you!), or your morning cup of coffee with just so many lumps of sugar and ounces of cream.
I have a list of daily rituals I perform as soon as I get out of bed every day, done in the exact same order. This list hangs above my desk, though by now I don’t even need to look at it. After I get my coffee with MudWTR (dolloped with foam from my battery charged frothier, something I don’t think I can live without and often travel with), I sit at my desk and do the following things: I first light a candle using a wood match, with the candle flavor or color depending upon the season. Right now, I am still burning a dark green pine scented candle I bought for myself for the holidays. I now must use my long wood matches to reach the wick that is far down into the belly of the jar.
Next, I light some sort of native plant, using the smoke to cleanse myself. When the weather wasn’t so bitterly cold and snowy, I would combine dried cedar and sage leaves into my large abalone shell and sit on my back porch with the smoke drifting around me. These cold days I instead stay inside to burn the tips of a braid of sweetgrass or a small twig of sage, in the same abalone shell, trying to make less smoke so I don’t set off the fire alarm.
After candle and smudging, I ground my feet into the floor and pray out loud, give thanks to Creator for all the abundance in my life, and then ask for what I need support for on that particular day. Following that, I pull out my gratitude journal, cut out a photo from my magazine stash (mostly National Geographic as I love the colors, animals, and landscapes), glue the picture onto a page, and then write in block letters, or cursive depending upon my mood, all the things I am grateful for in the last 24 hours. Starting my day with prayer and gratitude is as natural as brushing and flossing my teeth at the end of the day.
Then I pick up my paper calendar (I will never get used to having an electronic one, the representative squares for each day are way too small, plus I like to see the big picture) and I look at the day, week and month ahead. If I haven’t run out of time after these rituals, I will do some writing, art, or photo editing, though these activities often don’t happen every day, especially since I am now working longer work hours. The rest of the early morning passes in a blur as I dress, eat, and drive to work.
But the rituals don’t stop there. I have a daily practice of printing out my patient list and going through each chart in a specific way, getting both the details of events that occurred overnight, as well as the bigger picture, such as when the patient is eventually going to discharge. I grab my second and hopefully last cup of coffee of the day (filled up from the free coffee machine downstairs - oh how I hope that never goes away, I would be devastated), my list of patients, my phone, and walk to the daily bed planning huddle.
This gathering is always in the same place and at the same time, and like a Sunday church service, each person of the meeting has their role. Names of discharging patients are put up on the dry erase board, followed by the new admissions coming in that day. Safety huddle includes a spiritual reading for the day, one in line with Providence’s values of Compassion, Dignity, Integrity, Justice, and Excellence. I often recognize the author, from Eckhart Tolle to Rumi to Brene Brown. This is followed by each department giving a report that includes staffing levels (green, yellow, red), as well as any safety issues that occurred since the last meeting. We end with a report from the CEO to tie it all together, leaving the room in good spirits, chatting and bonding with each other.
(The sunrise view from the top of the stairs at the hospital where I work. Aren’t I lucky?)
Despite this meeting being at “work,” this too is a ritual, and one I really look forward to. It sets the tone for the day. It connects me to the other leaders guiding our hospital to be in service to our patients. It makes me feel part of a community. I miss it on those rare holidays when there aren’t enough leaders in the building to have a meeting.
What rituals, secular or spiritual, do you make a regular part of your life? How do these rituals help you? What rituals do you want to start incorporating into your daily practices?
Wow, that 3rd photo looks like a spiritual temple underground! Nice!