Using Ritual to Mark our Days

Whatever might speak to you, I hope you find some simple actions you can perform daily that will help you say, “Yes, I lived this day.”

I’ve been doing something new every day for the last two weeks. I get a small peat pot out of a large stack in the corner of my kitchen. I fill it with soil. I place a tiny tree seed on top of the soil level, cover it with a bit of additional soil, and add a gentle amount of water. Then I mark the pot with a flag that I stick into the soil complete with details on what type of tree I planted and what day I planted it in the daily sequence starting with 1 two weeks ago.

I’m keeping all of these small pots in rows by a sunny window on a workshop shelf. And I’m excited to see the first seedling burst out of the soil. When I’ve told people about this particular ritual, their first response is usually, “Where will you plant all of those trees when they grow?” And that is usually followed up with, “You’re planting a tree every day?” I do my best to explain that it’ll be years until the trees are large enough to need much more space than they currently take up, and that yes: I have been doing this every morning, just before I eat my breakfast.

What I usually don’t share with everybody, is that this ritual has added meaning to me because once the seeds are nestled in their pots, I take a minute or two to visualize the seeds in their place. I imagine their roots first breaking out of the seeds’ shells and grasping hold of the nutrients in the soil. And I like to think about the joy of seeing the seeds’ reaching stalk break above the soil level and to experience sunlight for the first time. When I think about the growth of these seeds—all the immense potential that each has to become massive trees—I think about how I can grasp hold of good things that can help me grow as well as helping others to grow as well.

This is only one small, but significant for me at least, action I take every day. It, as well as a couple other rituals including mindfulness exercises and writing in a gratitude journal every night, helps me to make better sense out of my day and to mark each day. So often over the last couple years I’ve felt like days kind of melt together like a box of crayons left outside on asphalt on a hot day. Good things would happen practically every day but I realized I didn’t show nearly enough thanks for those good things because the least I could do to recognize them would be to mark them somehow.

Rituals certainly don’t have to be religious in any way. In fact, I’d bet that, although we might not be conscious enough most days to call them this by name, our morning routines are very much rituals. Do you flip on—or I guess more appropriately these days ask Alexa to turn on—the radio to catch up on news while you’re making and eating your breakfast? Do you go for a jog and look forward to listening to a favorite podcast or audiobook?

The words we choose matter because what we call something can become common place or approaching sacredness depending on how we choose to look at our actions. What happens to things that could be considered routines or habits start to be considered important rituals? The very same actions can take on completely new and inspiring meaning.

So what makes the difference? I guess it really comes down to intention, doesn’t it? We choose to label a routine as a ritual. We choose to go through those rituals even when, and maybe especially when, we don’t feel like it. I’m definitely new to the world of making our own rituals, but I think I get the sense already, that the true power of ritual comes in when we are willing to go through with them even when we aren’t super excited to perform them. Then, when we are on the other side of those harder times, we have a new sense of connection to these behaviors and greater appreciation for their balancing effect even when we aren’t in the headspace to recognize them.

Maybe planting trees isn’t your thing. But whatever your thing might be, I hope you find some simple actions you can perform daily that will help you to say, “Yes, I lived this day.” I’d love to hear about them.