The Rituals of Every Day Life

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene

Ritual or routine?

In the morning, I count on my routine to do everything I need to do in order to get to work earlier than “on time.” I want to be early so that I can perform my rituals and get into the role I must play.

These little actions prepare me for the day ahead: I place my keys, my phone and my glasses on my desk. I look at my calendar. I think for a while. I make a list. I seek inspiration.

Before that, in the subway, I read my beautiful future-life-plan-inote, and add to it or develop an idea while I let my body go through the movements dictated by routine: walk, change trains, wait, sit. And then dream. But not too deeply because I don’t want to miss my stop. My body usually tells me when I need to become alert and exit. I count on routine to guide me through those steps and on ritual to envision the future.

At night, I draw. Sometimes, I write. Sometimes I don’t, because routine catches me in it’s net.

A ritual is chosen, done purposefully, with a goal in mind.

A routine grows out or repetition, of what is comfortable within the uncomfortable. It’s what we do every day in order to survive effectively.

A ritual is what we do intentionally in order to open space for creation. We build it out of the symbols of our soul. And it leads us into the next steps.

Routine is a trap… but also necessary. The only escape is to use routine as a scaffold for our own purposes. And then, upon that scaffold, establish rituals that open space for meaning.

Because just following a routine without a purpose leads to emptiness. Because being the priest or priestess of your own temple, and leading the rituals that build you up, turn the unconscious routine into an act of conscious creation.