DO YOU HAVE “SACRED” TIMES?

While I have considered exercise to be important most of my life, I was never one to get up early and go for a run or head to the gym. My workout time historically been before dinner, although now that I have more control over my schedule, I exercise either before lunch or dinner. I’ve come to realize that one of the reasons that I never got into exercising early in the morning is that it’s one of my “sacred” times.

I tend to work best throughout the day by easing into the morning with a ritual that includes eating a healthy breakfast, reading a physical newspaper, and meditating. Before I realized that it was a sacred time for me, I used to get mad at myself for taking so long to get started in the morning – but the next morning I’d be back to the same routine – which I now accept and treasure.

I have one more daily sacred time. When Covid-19 forced a shutdown of virtually everything and I was home every day, I suddenly was eating lunch with my wife on a regular basis for the for the first time in our married lives. It quickly became ritualized. As lunchtime approached, one of us would tell the other what we were making for lunch and offer to make it for the other.

Unlike dinner, where we were used to both of us eating the same thing, our history of eating lunch separately meant that we didn’t always agree on what we wanted – and about half the time we made our own salad or sandwich or grilled cheese or protein shake. But we ate together. Unlike eating at work, which often meant eating while in a meeting or rushing to eat between patients, our lunch ritual was carried out without multi-tasking such as also watching TV or check emails and texts.

Lunchtime became another sacred time for me – so much so that, even since Libby’s death, I have continued to honor it by taking the time to eat lunch in the dining room, eating mindfully, and doing so without watching TV, reading, or checking my cell phone.

I have other special times – such as when I’m with my grandchildren and am fully present with them, but I don’t see them on a daily basis so it hasn’t become ritualized. I call those times “special” rather than “sacred”.

Do you have sacred times? If you don’t, I suspect that you might, whether you recognize it or not. I encourage you to examine your lifestyle and see if some of your daily activities have become a part of you by choice. Appreciate those sacred times that make you who you are. When you become fully present and appreciative during those times, it will enable you to honor yourself for doing something that you don’t really have to do for any other reason than appreciating yourself and the choices that you’ve made because of your personal values. I know that it has worked for me.