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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Daily Ritual


I've realized that I'm not as relaxed at home as I'd like to be. Why? I could probably start with the general disarray of being in my new home. Or the lack of furniture. Or the unfinished master bedroom. Or possibly the non-specified lack of time between getting home from work, cooking, musicing, exercising, showering, and hanging out with my hubby to do much housework that would make life neat!

So, instead of trying to do more to get it all done, I decided to add a small ritual in my life: The After Work Relaxer. Reid's been bugging me about this for ages. He says, "Laura, don't you want to relax when you get home from work?" But I figure that I'll be more relaxed after I get some stuff DONE. Not true. I'm usually flying into bed, thinking "What did I do tonight? I don't feel relaxed at all."

The After Work Relaxer is very simple and fun. I just come home and make something special happen. Here are some that I've been trying out...

Relaxing Ideas:
open the windows, lie down and do nothing
have some sparkling water with lime and berries (my personal favorite!)
sit on the sofa with your hubby and have a heart to heart
tell jokes, or read a funny book
mix up some guac

Things that don't work:
getting on the computer
organizing my paperwork
start folding clothes immediately

I think that there's a general lack of ritual in our modern lives. Ritual helps make things special, helps to differentiate one part of the day from the other. Probably most importantly it helps cue our emotions, thoughts, and bodies what to do when by creating a rhythm in our life.

So, I think I'm going to try to do more of this ritual thing.



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