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I drink a lot of coffee. To a certain extent, I do it out of necessity; I don’t sleep nearly enough, and I have a bad habit of taking on more than I can really manage in the hours available to me, which leaves me sleep deprived and dreaming about the day that someone will invent a caffeine IV, because that would really make my day so much easier.

I will drink coffee in the afternoon because I am desperate, because I know that the moment I sit down to supervise homework or listen to someone read a book, I will fall into a coma-like sleep that will last until I am jolted awake by a wee child’s voice saying, “Mama are you listening?”

Afternoon coffee is a necessity, but morning coffee is a ritual. I love that first cup, steaming hot, with just the right amount of half and half. When the weather is good, I will take my coffee outside and sit on the porch and enjoy the silence. On the days when the boys get up with me, we sit on the sofa and talk, and they know not to jostle me while I’m cupping the mug of coffee.

I have a routine for my day, a predictable pattern that I follow without fail. I make to do lists and watch the clock and check things off. But I have very few rituals, moments where I step back from the lists and the schedule and just exist in the moment. The first cup of coffee is sometimes the only ritual in the entire day.

I would like to have more small rituals in my day, more times when I step away from the work and the laundry and the chaos and just exist. For now, though, I will take the cup of coffee in the quiet house in the morning.

Do you have a daily ritual? What would you do if you had the time? And — most importantly — can you make the time, right now? I think you can.

12 Comments so far

I get up way early while Steve sleeps until 7. When it’s time, I make our cups of coffee and take them upstairs to wake Steve. He finds it very hard to be waited on, but that one act is the essence of comfort and companionship to each of us. I was alone for so long that this ritual is a milestone that shows me I’ve come home. I think it is to Steve, too.

No, no I do not have a ritual at the moment. And I think it’s that which is draining me. 5 days to I finish my current contract and then, THEN!, I will take 5 minute rituals during the day.

I seriously do not mean to be advertising a product, but my “other” ritual used to be making a pot of coffee with my Starbucks fine grid French Roast and by the end of the day, throwing out most of it, having had ’bout a cup and a half of it. Then I got a Keurig and it makes ONE cup at a time of the most awesome coffee. My kids make hot cocoa, one cup at a time and am in heaven. If I want One cup late in the afternoon, there it is…. (no bunnies or restitution were compensated for this)

I agree that there are good cups of coffee, and there are necessary ones.

I’ve been trying harder lately to just stop and look around now and again. Yesterday I noticed how beautiful the mist was over the trees near our house; normally I’m just watching the traffic. It’s easy to keep your blinkers on.

I bookend my day with rituals. In the morning, I make coffee for myself and DH, fix myself a mocha, and check email and blurf. (Why do I love that made-up word so much?) I wrote an essay about how important coffee is for the grown-up soul here: http://questioningmyintelligence.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-impossible-to-be-unhappy-when.html

After everyone else is asleep, I go to my craft room. Sometimes I just sit and stare at my stuff; most times, I make something. The house is quiet. I can think and feel and be creative. It’s all good in my craft room, no matter what bad the day doled out.

My latte. Usually it is Starbucks when I am in the office, but at home I have a stove top espresso maker and steamer so I can make perfectly frothed lattes (I used to work at coffee shops, including the big one).
It is about the only milk I get and it keeps me going. It is about the only ritual I do, but without it, even if I have had other caffeine, I just can’t function.

My first cup is, like for many, necessity. I like the smell, the taste, the way the warm cup feels against my hand. The second cup however I enjoy more. I taste it more. I feel it more. Probably because the first cup did its thing, you know, that jolt-me-awake-with-your-caffeine NOW, so the second cup is pure pleasure. I follow this ritual no matter how many times I was awoken by coughing fits, toddler, preschoolers, or any other such distraction. Lovely.

I am a tea drinker, so my comfort “food” is a cup of tea with milk and sugar. I have to have a cup of tea first thing in the morning and one last thing at night!
If I can sit outside with either cup, it is a true blessing.

My other soul restoration is sewing. I’m currently working on a Halloween costume for my granddaughter.

Yes, I love my first 1 1/2 cups of coffee in the morning. In the summer, I cold-brewed a big 2-week supply of incredible coffee - so I wouldn’t have to wait for the coffee pot to finish (just add hot water from our dispenser, and drink) Lately, I’ve been using my french press. It is perhaps the only guaranteed activity I have in the morning because chasing a toddler around takes away the certainty of all else, but knowing that I’ve been able to do this one thing - keeps me sane despite all the other unchecked “to-do’s” in the day.
I love your blog and appreciated this post especially, as well as your grace in small things.

I get that same feeling when I walk the dog at night. It doesn’t happen every night, and it doesn’t happen at the same time, but there’s something wonderful about stepping outside my home with my furry little girl and walking. No phone, no computer, no interruptions. It’s only a mile walk (shorter if it’s too hot out), but by the time I step back through the front door, I’m revived.

I was never a coffee fan until I had Aiman, now it’s a necessity.

For the most part I don’t really have a ritual, but little moments when I have time to do what I WANT to do verses what I should or have to do -I’m trying to make those moments more of a ritual.

I know this sounds silly, but brushing my teeth in the morning is a beautiful period of stillness in my day.

I look in the mirror and I brush. that’s it. everything else is so multitasked and maximized. Sometimes in stressful moments I find myself checking my teeth for maybe? can I go take five minutes?

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