My husband and I are entering a new season. New home, new community, new calling. New season.
This demands some new rituals and routines. Since I don't really have any in place yet, I decided to do a study on ritual and routine, and the difference between them.
I paid special attention to my movements this week, from the time I woke up each day. Maybe I already had some rituals in place that I hadn't noticed before.
I wanted to pay attention to what I do naturally; what fuels me, what I lean towards doing, what brings me joy. These are the things that become rituals - things that prepare the atmosphere for my writing. They settle me into my work, my purpose, my calling.
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Rituals help you make the most of time and help you feel you have more of it because you are enjoying yourself more deeply as you flow through the day, adding touches that stimulate enthusiasm and give energy.
[Alexandra Stoddard - Living a Beautiful Life]
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It's natural for me to wake early. I love the early morning; I'm most creative in the morning. Once I've dressed in comfy clothes, slithered my feet into cozy socks, and put on my grey cardigan with the shawl collar, I head to my new library, painted in Woodlawn Blue. Such an airy, peaceful colour.
The large windows face Northeast. Morning light slowly and gradually bathes the room, illuminating the books on the shelves, which give me joy whenever I look at them. The sound of the outdoors is important to me so, except on the coldest of days, the first thing I do is open the windows. It's a bonus if the birds are singing, but more than that, I need to hear the trees speaking to me: the tentative whispers of the poplars, the confident wisdom of the grand evergreens.
Coffee in hand, I sit at my desk in the library to write Morning Pages. Morning Pages has been mentioned a few times on this blog, but if you're not familiar with them, suffice it to say, it's a brain dump, and it doesn't have to be pretty. Morning pages are meant to empty your brain of everything holding back your creativity, and they're not meant to be kept forever, like a journal. I couldn't bear to think of throwing out a pretty journal, so I got the old-style school notebooks - four for 79 cents.
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Writing image by Tanvi Malik from Pixabay
Joy is implementing some new rituals and routines in their new home in the country, where she lives with The Cowboy and a puppy named Chara. Find more of her joy-infused view of the world at Scraps of Joy.
Thank you, dear Joy, for this lovely post about energizing our creativity. Like you, I love my early morning routine. Before reading your post, I opened the curtains in my creative cave. The sunlight on the trees inspires joy in me. Normally I leave them closed so I won't be distracted. But a nudge suggested that beauty is more inspiring than it is distracting. God's art can't hurt the art of writing. It can only help a nature lover like me.
ReplyDeleteBlessings on your new home.
"God's art can't hurt the art of writing.' I LOVE that line. Thank you Wendy.
Delete"It's a bonus if the birds are singing, but more than that, I need to hear the trees speaking to me: the tentative whispers of the poplars, the confident wisdom of the grand evergreens." Gosh, I love this line. I'll now look at and smell the scent of evergreens hopefully to capture their wisdom that comes from the purity of nature.
ReplyDeleteYes, there seems to be such wisdom in those old evergreens. They've lived a long time, and when the wind sings through them they seem to share that wisdom I think.
DeleteI love the descriptions of the birds and the trees and the light... It sounds serene and would surely fuel anyone's creativity!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tracy. I love my new writing room. :)
DeleteJoy, I love the way you are paying attention to rituals in your new season--both the rituals from you last home, and the rituals you are putting into place in this new home. It's an important task to help you get adjusted to a new lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteSandi, thank you for confirming that it's an important task to get adjusted. Sometimes it feels like I should have it all together and in place by now. After all, we've lived here for three months. But in real life, three months in a new home isn't actually that long. So I do appreciate your confirmation.
DeleteThanks for sharing your ‘cozy’ creative connections with us, Joy. What a great idea to purposely pay attention to your day. Think I may have to try that.🤔
ReplyDeleteYes, it was kind of a brilliant idea to do that - haha. The thought popped up out of nowhere - although I'm sure God had a hand in it - but it was so helpful to do. Thanks, Sharon.
DeleteBeautifully written and inspiring, Joy. Your post made me realize how my simple morning rituals set the tone for my day. Thank you.
ReplyDelete"Simple morning rituals" - so true that often it's the simplest of rituals that are the most energizing. Thank you, Valerie.
DeleteJoy, I think you're well on your way to establishing new rituals and routines in your new life and home. I so enjoyed reading your lovely post. I love Alexandra's thoughts about rituals, and Julia Cameron's Morning Pages have become an entrenched ritual for me too.
ReplyDelete"Well on my way" - and that feels good to finally have some kind of routines and rituals falling into place after what seems like such a long season of upturned chaos. I breathe a sigh and say, "AT LAST!"
DeleteThe way you write about establishing your routines and rituals in a new home sounds like pure delight.
ReplyDelete