Rituals

Morning rituals. I love how each morning I sit in the same chair. How I keep all of my “tools” in the brightly colored basket I bought at the health food store in Tacoma. How my pens, the ones I use in the morning, are all kept in the basket. I love that I underline sentences in Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance with yellow highlighter, how I write my Morning Pages with a Pilot Precise V5. How my grateful journal is also written with this fine-tipped black pen, the ink gliding smoothly over the slick, shiny pages. My purple pen? That’s for underlining in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way; I’ve already used black ink, red ink, and yellow highlighting, so I had nowhere to go but to broaden my ink color so I can track what is important this time I’m reading the Bible of my creativity. I keep a silly little blank book in my basket, with the appropriate title of: “Reflect Pocket Journal,” which I use to record quotes I come across in Sarah or Julia’s books; I probably paid 25 cents for this little journal at SCRAP. And when did I start using watercolors to fill in the hearts I draw at the end of each Morning Page entry? I don’t even remember, but I know I love my portable Winsor Newton watercolor set – 14 little half pans of vibrant color. I carry water in an airtight plastic film canister so I can whip out my watercolors at any time and color in my hearts. All of this is kept in my brightly colored basket, so even when I’m traveling, I’m ready to take all the accoutrements of my morning ritual with me.

This is how I start my day, sitting in my comfortable old chair, reading, underlining, writing . . . and sipping my chai tea soy latte.