A Morning Ritual

One of my favourite morning rituals is making myself a cup of Kashmiri chai. It’s a simple ritual that helps ground me and get me ready for the day ahead. It’s a habit I started years ago that has roots in my love of, and appreciation for, many things South Asian. Incidentally, I never intended that my morning tea should turn into a ritual, but that’s precisely what happened––the transition from necessity to ritual rather crept up on me I think because I was learning to make something delightfully unfamiliar. This required more focused attention, I had to be more aware than in my usual day to day. Thus, the budding and blossoming of a ritual.

Since then, I have become more aware of the benefits of rituals and how they can transform the quality of our lives by revealing the sacredness of ordinary existence. This is real sustenance for the human soul. They deepen our appreciation for the life we have by making us more aware of its depth and breadth and beauty.

Ritual brings us back to a state of what I think of as primordial ignorance. We enter a space where the ultimate mystery that life is is more palpable. Spending ample time this way deepens our sense of ignorance in a healthy way, which in turn can render us more amenable and open to life.

Learning to approach our life with a deeper sense of reverence and love are two key attributes of this practice, and not far behind follows gratitude. Rituals can be tremendously liberating. They unite our disparate parts and help make us whole. It’s all too easy to forget how inherently important these deeply sustaining principles really are.

Rituals help aid us in remembering.

Love and courage.