This post began its life as a comment on someone’s note.
writes the Substack On The Road, with thought-provoking posts to help readers find purpose, motivation and more.In her post titled Why I choose to live a boring life, Suzanne reminds that routines don’t have to be ruts:
We’re told routines are ruts. But that’s not true.
A slow, simple boring life in which your day unfolds as a chain of nourishing rituals is not a rut.
It’s deeply meaningful.
Ruts form through meaningless repetition.
I agree.
Here’s something interesting, just play along. Make any pair of words in which the first word is “meaningless.” The pair Suzanne created was “meaningless repetition.” What are some more? How ‘bout “meaningless waiting”? (yuck) Or maybe “meaningless busywork” or “meaningless conversation”?
It’s probable that you can think of examples of those. OK, now let’s change them. Replace “meaningless” with “mindful.”
What would “mindful repetition” feel like, as opposed to “meaningless repetition.” Or is that even possible? It IS possible, I believe, and it’s another name for ritual.
We get to decide what meaning that repetition holds for us.
We can decide what meaning there is in the waiting, or what meaning we bring to it. We can do that with every action or every non-action.
A common lesson answers a question about enlightenment. The teacher says, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” The action may not change, just our perception of it, or ourselves in relationship to it.
This week, give mindfulness a try. Or if that still seems too theoretical, give gratitude a try. Choose a common, mundane action and bring gratitude to it.
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