#257: On Daily Rituals

Photo thanks to the wonderful Rolana Lim

Once upon a time, when I was a morning muser who showed up daily-ish to commune with ideas, a sense of ease permeated my life.

A sense of rightness.

A feeling of all being right with the world.

A trust in the unfolding.

A deep trust in the unfolding, actually. A deeeeeeeeep, deep trust.

And I miss that feeling.

Specifically, I miss the feeling of taking one bite of the elephant at a time.

Because, back when I was a morning muser who showed up daily-ish to commune with ideas – that’s exactly what I was doing: eating the elephant one bite at a time.

There was never any sense of needing to get EVERYTHING done NOW.

Because my daily-ish commitment meant that I was unworried. If there was a thought, idea, or sentiment that I wanted to express,

That I wanted to connect with,

And I didn’t get to it that day…

It didn’t matter. Because I’d be at my keyboard again the next day, warm mug of coffee within arm’s reach.

I’m yearning to bring some of that energy back into my life.

That sense of rhythm.

The feeling of, “Mmmmmm, here we are again.”

Because, right now, without that sense of rhythm, I instead feel scattered. Pulled in multiple different directions, making a centimeter of progress on the trivial at the expense of making a meter of progress on the important (I live in a sane part of the measuring world now, American friends).

There’s an author named Greg McKeown who wrote a book called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. And he opens by sharing a story about how he left his wife and infant daughter alone at the hospital in the first 24 hours of his daughter’s life to attend a meeting that, frankly, didn’t matter.

And it doesn’t feel like he regrets that decision, largely because it made him realize how corrupted he had become by society’s pressure to do it all. It was a turning point for him. A particularly memorable one.

I’m getting rambly (which accurately reflects the scatteredness of my mind), so I’ll wrap it up –

I am a student of the human experience. And, for my degree program, I have chosen the “delight” track. I am here to delight in my human experience while I attend Earth school.

Having a sense of rhythm to my day – one that is simple, easy, and unhurried – helps with that.

And isn’t it nice to know what helps?

Keely

Morning Musings is a delight-first writing practice where I wake up, put my fingers on the keyboard and see if any ideas want to play. The cherished humans who read these musings tend to see them as an invitation to slow down, have a virtual cup of coffee together, and contemplate the human experience. If you’d like to join our tribe, subscribe here: https://keelyc.substack.com/