Life as ritual.

The more we can bring ritual into our lives, the richer and deeper life becomes.
Ritual is amplified when people gather. 
When people come together to co-create, to lean on each other, to be witnessed, to be thanked, to honour this one precious life, we become the village that we lost and have forever since yearned for. 
Rituals of grief, gratitude, love, fear, tea, chocolate, dance, ecstasy.
Nothing is beyond reverence.

My intention today is to imbue everything I do with the presence and intentionallity of a ritual.

Ritual makes up such an important part of my life. Take my morning ritual for example...

First off I think there is a slight but incredibly important distinction between a morning ROUTINE and a morning RITUAL. A ROUTINE is a sequence of actions regularly followed to be efficient but a RITUAL is a routine with meaning, with intention. A RITUAL is a series of intentional meaningful practices that provide a sense of purpose plus enjoyment.

HOWEVER my morning ritual actually starts off with a morning ROUTINE! I get up and the first thing I do is scrape my tongue, poop, drink some lemon water. Then I exercise. If it wasn't a routine I would come up with every reason not to exercise. But because there is almost an unconsciousness to it now, I just do it. If I don't, I feel weird. I do the exercise that I feel is good for my body that day. It could be weights, dance, yoga. While I often enjoy once I have started there isn't a lot intentionality or meaning I derive from this practise. 

But then I do practises with the intention to return back to myself. This is the RITUAL. There is choice, thought, intuition, conscious decision making, and the intention is to return to self. There is also ENJOYMENT! This could include drinking cacao, meditating, journalling, doing kundalini kriya, or reading. I take time doing this as for me it is the foundation for everything else I do in the day.  Doing this provides meaning for me. It imbues my life with greater purpose. Because I do the practises for myself, but also knowing that I am practising to be more present, more loving, more kind to others in my life. 

So I guess what I am reiterating to myself as I write this, is the importance of intentionality in ritual AND in life to give meaning. Intention can be the difference between just a day and the best day of alignment, joy, and delight.

I'm so curious about your morning rituals or how you use intention in your life. Please let me know :)