At the start of this year, I began using a planner called “Rituals for Living: Dreambook & Planner” by Peter and Briana Borten. In the introduction to the planner, the authors assert that ritual can make a profound difference in our lives. After all, our ancestors’ lives involved daily rituals but we’ve gradually lost those ritual processes thinking we’ve no time for such things. Their argument got me thinking that ritualizing the writing process might really improve focus and creativity.
What do I mean by ritualizing?
Ritualizing—making a ritual out of an activity—need not be elaborate or take more than a few seconds or moments. Ritual is a special, deliberate act or process that you use to bring specialness, focus, creativity or any other spiritual connection and structure. You probably already have rituals in your life, daily activities like your morning coffee, your exercise routine, or maybe just taking deep breaths to stop and focus for a moment. What makes a routine a ritual is the awareness and deliberateness you bring to it. Ritual is also about being consistent.
Why create ritual around writing?
Perhaps the Bortens say it best when they write, “Ritual brings order, specialness, context and focus to our lives. The opening and closing, or the initiation and conclusion of a ritual aligns our intention with our actions, and it sets the stage for the action to be as effective as possible.” In other words, even though the value of such actions may seem subjective, ritual provides meaning and intention to our actions.
Ritual Ideas
Ritual need not be elaborate though it certainly can be. It doesn’t need to be a formal ceremony, though again it could be. You can try any or all of the following. Use one idea or layer in several. Keep trying different combinations until you find one that resonates with you. Some of these suggestions may be more “New Agey” than you’re comfortable with but you just never know what will work for you.
- Visualize a successful writing session while making or drinking the first sips of your favorite beverage.
- Light a candle before you start writing; blow it out (or snuff it out) when you’re finished for the day.
- Place crystals on your writing desk and spend a few moments looking at them or handling them before and after your writing sessions.
- Say an affirmation aloud for a productive and creative writing session before you start. Give thanks when you’re done.
- Take three deep breaths before you begin and three more when you finish.
- Ring a bell before you start and again when you finish a writing session.
- Light incense or use an essential oil diffuser while writing.
- Draw a tarot card before writing to provide a focus.
- Call on the element of air (associated with writing, crafting poetry, or sharing ideas) by placing a feather or even an image of a feather nearby when you write.
This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully it provides enough to give you a sense of the diversity of intentional and consistent activities you might do to bring focus and meaning to your writing practice.
I invite you to try one or more of these activities and let me know which ones you try and how you feel about it.
