One thing that got me thinking the other day was about rituals. We all have rituals that we employ to feel better. Say if you decide to go to the gym or go on a diet or whatever. I have a few rituals that I do that make me feel less anxious. For example I will do 30-40 minutes of light exercise before bed. I will have jasmine tea to relax as well in the morning if I am not working. It is a bit of a ceremony. I will burn incense as well.

All of these little rituals make me feel better. There is something in the human psyche that needs these types of stimulus. It is basically all about ticking boxes. Feeling there is a path or set of goals to well being. This year I have felt a bit flat so I tend to get even more into rituals as it allays fears. Writing is something that is on the ritual list though I have a particular approach.

For one I only write every day or so on my blog. Whereas with stories I try to only write once a week. I find with writing stories I need a lot of thinking time. I want to mull over ideas in the back of my mind. With blogging though it is ok to write a bit more as it gives me an opportunity to sort through ideas that are maybe less opaque. That seem in need of sorting in a manual way.

It can seem like sorting through gravel at times or possibly a wispish moment of nothingness though it is a mechanism of sorting either way. It is in a way just another ritual. I have written a little about anxiety in other posts and how organising reality is a way of allaying fears and feeling like there is clear progress. This post is more about delaying the march of life.

Relaxing into middle age and trying to be healthy and happy. Rituals though don’t ever really seem to stop. They may change but they need to be in use. I have tried to change my lifestyle to suit my years. Doing these things do make me feel better but when you stop is when you realise you have a problem.

The rule to remember is everything revolves around movement. That is why we need to feel we are on a path. A linear path moves abstractly while we move physically. So basically we need to move both abstractly and physically to feel balanced.