Ritual is the act of sanctifying action – even ordinary action – so that it has meaning. I can light a candle because I need the light or because the candle represents the light I need.

Christina Baldwin

Welcome to Day Two of Revitalize Your Rituals, Revitalize Your Life

If the “big-R” rituals provide the architecture of our lives, everyday rituals are the nuts and bolts that hold it all together. Daily rituals can include everything from morning meditation to gathering at the dinner table, from changing out of our work clothes to stretching a certain way before a run. Not all habits are rituals; some are just the routines that get us through the day. But by intentionally ritualizing a daily task or two, we can ease transitions, enrich connections, mitigate stress, and discover meaning in the ordinary. The French philosopher and novelist Muriel Barbery reminds us of the transformative power of small rituals when she writes, “When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things.” If you drink a cup of tea every morning while racing out the door, that’s a habit. If you decide to get up ten minutes earlier each day so that you can enjoy your tea while sitting in the morning sun, say, and giving thanks for the day ahead, that becomes a ritual. Ritualizing the ordinary depends on attention, slowing down, and awakening our senses. Even small rituals can ground us in the present moment while simultaneously making us more aware of the meaning inherent in daily life.

Today’s Practice: Create an Everyday Gratefulness Ritual

Get inspired for today’s practice by Mahogany Browne, poet-in-residence at Lincoln Center in New York City. In this short video, the poet shares how she created the poem Ritual to serve as a daily mechanism for slowing down and breathing. Her commentary is interspersed with snippets of a beautiful performance of the poem, accompanied by Max Michael Jacob on cello.

After watching the video, take a moment to consider the following:

What might it look like in your own life to have an everyday ritual for slowing down and attuning to your breath?

Step One: Scan Your Typical Day

Take a few moments to review your morning and evening routines; the daily transitions between, say, work and home; and how you make time for yourself and for connection with those you love.

  • What aspects of your day go smoothly? 
  • Are there times when you tend to feel rushed or disconnected?

Step Two: Choose One

With this reflection in mind, choose one aspect of your typical day that would benefit from being ritualized. Where would you like more spaciousness? More joy, connection, or reverence? Without overthinking it, pick one aspect of your day — something you already do (drinking tea, walking, arriving at work or back home, cooking) that would be enriched by ritual.

Step Three: Recommit or Create Anew

Rituals vary wildly, of course, but depend on both attention and intention. Common elements include a focus on the breath, some music, certain movements, a reading, and special light like a candle. If you already have an everyday gratefulness practice, consider expanding it or adding a new one.

Below are a few examples to inspire your everyday gratefulness ritual. Adapt one of these — or something of your own creation — to the part of your day you’ve identified above.

  • Both/And: Take ten minutes to sit in your favorite chair and simply observe — the light coming through a window, your kids playing, your own heart. In your mind or on paper, name one thing you’re struggling with and one thing you’re grateful for. Practice holding both things simultaneously, with equal tenderness. Give thanks for the daily opportunity for a new beginning.
  • Breathe: Add a simple pause and three centering breaths to a daily transition, giving thanks to your body for continuing to breathe, for the trees that provide clean air. It can be helpful to have a physical reminder for this small ritual, something tangible like placing your key in the front door lock as you arrive home.
  • Awaken Your Senses: Light candles and turn on music before sitting down to a meal. Pause to give thanks for one aspect of your day and for all the growers and grocers who made this food available to you.

Step Four: Reflect

After you’ve had a few days to experiment, make note of any ways that this small ritual is impacting your daily life.

  • What changes have you noticed since beginning this small everyday gratefulness ritual? 
  • What feels most meaningful about this ritual?
  • What do you hope to continue or modify going forward?

Scroll to the bottom of the page (or click here) to find the Community Conversation space where we invite you to share your reflections about today’s practice.

Deepening Resource

This 90-second video offers inspiration from accomplished athletes who adopt small rituals for physical and mental well-being. What small rituals do you have to guide your day?

Rituals We Share :90 by Love, Your Mind

Rituals We Share :90 by Love, Your Mind

Research Highlight

From his decades of research on ritual around the globe, Dr. Bradd Shore reports that in addition to reducing anxiety and embodying meaning, individual rituals “provide a surprising sense of peace and comfort in the face of sorrow, loneliness, or stress.” “My surprising conclusion,” he writes, “is that ritual is perhaps the most powerful tool in the human toolkit that is largely under local control.” In other words, we each have the capacity to create ritual in our everyday lives, even when so much of life is beyond our control.

The Hidden Powers of Everyday Rituals, The Editors, MIT Press Reader, in conversation with Bradd Shore, Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Emory University and author of The Hidden Powers of Ritual, 2023.

Photo by Brent Gorwin


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