Do you have rituals in your life?
And forest bathing in the middle of a thriving city.
I had one of those odd moments in life the other week, where I’d been dedicating a lot of headspace to something – then I was on the way to the beach with a friend and she brought the exact same thing up. Serendipity, much.
What was hot on our minds, you ask?
Rituals, our main preoccupation being do we have them in our lives – and are they rituals of the right flavour?
And while we’re here, dipping a toe into this topic, I want to say something straight, up front. I am not confusing rituals with habits, although it’s easy enough to do so. As someone who secretly loves routine (well, perhaps not so secretly now it’s ‘in print’ online) but spent the first decade of their career as a shift worker, I was always looking for hacks and methods to form habits, cleave back time, get stuff done. After years of reading and research into habit forming, I’ve concluded that it’s just productivity bullshit, ways to further convince us that we need to optimise ourselves and our time, lest we stop for a moment to actually reflect on our lives and think about the bigger picture. That’s a separate topic for another fortnight, so I’ll end this train of thought here – for now.
Rituals are different. While the act of ritual does have a bit of a religious, or let’s say spiritual connotations, they can also be used as markers in your life – to celebrate, commiserate or simply reflect.
They can be things you do every day, automatically, such as getting out of bed, throwing back your covers, opening your curtains and windows, to let fresh air permeate everything.
I have a very particular ritual that involves tea. Every morning, I flick on the kettle and pack my 1.5 litre teapot with my favourite blend of tea, which I then drink slowly over the next hour or so, out of my favourite cup. Drunk out of any other cup, it just doesn’t taste the same.
You could have a ritual where every Sunday night in the cooler months, you draw a bath, chuck some bubbly stuff, essential oils, whatever in it, shut the bathroom door and settle in with a good book. Note – this is not to be confused with wellness or self-care.
It’s family tradition…
There are the rituals we adopt which are family tradition, passed down. Ones you can definitely apply to any significant holiday. For example – in my household growing up, we put on a brand new pair of pajamas (being fast growing kids) and gathered together around the tree to open one present on Christmas Eve, before leaving snacks and libations out for Santa and his reindeer.
Or perhaps the tradition, the ritual, was a holiday itself – everyone gathering together at a family holiday house, or going to the same beach year after year to camp and run wild by the sea.
One ritual I do miss, is giving thanks around the dinner table before eating. Growing up, I’d feel almost positively unhinged if I was round at a friend’s place for dinner and we didn’t say Grace. It’s not something I do in my adult life, but you know what, I’m thinking of bringing it back. And once again, this doesn’t have to have a religious purpose at all – you can simply be grateful for the delicious meal in front of you and give yourself a second of anticipation before you dive in to feast.
What happens when we have no rituals?
As traditions like this die off, as we age, it’s easy to feel discombobulated. We’re human and we’re designed to repeat practises – it brings us solace and keeps us calm. Once again, this is why habit hacking is so popular, if not altogether helpful.
I think of rituals as not only something special you adopt for the good of yourself and those around you, but of a nice way to mark time, particularly with the change of seasons.
Our rituals are our culture and we’re in a weird time for sure – where most people have thrown off religion, but with it, the positive things engaging in such a practice brings. Community. Like-minded people. And ritual.
While in Australia we follow the Northern Hemisphere calendar of seasons (although obviously, back to front), it really is a stretch to fully apply them here. It’s too simple. Australian Indigenous culture recognises more than four seasons, which changed wherever you were located on this vast continent. Living in Melbourne, in the same area for a few years now, it is noticeable that while now (late March) is marked as ‘autumn’ in the seasonal calendar, it’s a weird shoulder season between summer and what we think of as autumn – and is also absolutely my favourite time of the year.
Farmer, author and podcaster Jade Miles marks this time of year as ‘Harvest’ in her book Futuresteading, which I thoroughly recommend reading if you’re keen to make ritual a part of your life. The heat has passed, the kitchen garden is full of produce and it’s time to get pull out the jars and get fermenting and pickling, ahead of winter.
Except… I’m sure most of us live in the city. So what can we do to mark this seasonal change?
Start cooking warm, nourishing meals. Embrace autumn produce – root veggies, apples, pears, warm spices like ginger and cinnamon and use them in your cooking. Make a tajine, bake the first lasagna of the cooler seasons or warm your kitchen with a delicious Sunday roast.
While the weather is fine and the light still lingering, invite your pals over for a feast. Make it a potluck, or they can luck out and have you cook for them (they can bring the drinks and perhaps supply snacks and dessert).
Get into fermenting! I have a red cabbage kraut doing its thing on the kitchen counter as I type. It’s delicious on fresh bread with goats cheese. Save all your apple scraps and core to make your own vinegar, to chuck onto salads.
There’s plenty of ways to invite ritual back into life. If you’re looking for small ideas to start, here are some suggestions:
do some simple stretches every morning, upon waking
eat meals with the people you live with, at the dinner table
go for a walk after dinner, to help get those digestive juices flowing
do a big spring clean in the first few days of September (or March, depending on where you live) every year
send postcards to people you care about, when you’re on a trip
put aside a specific time every week to call a family member, or a friend you haven’t talked to for awhile.
Are there any rituals you hold dear? Or are hoping to adopt into your life?
Forest therapy at the Royal Botanic Gardens
I ventured into Melbourne city over the weekend, for a spot of greenery.
Victoria is Australia’s ‘garden state’ and consequently, Melbourne is home to many fabulous gardens. The jewel in the crown being the Royal Botanic Gardens just south of the Yarra River.
There’s all sorts of tours and events taking place at the gardens, but I was there for a spot of forest therapy.
Forest therapy or forest bathing has been around for awhile now. Originating in Japan, where it is known as shinrin-yoku, the idea is that by immersing yourself in nature, you will bolster your medical and physical health.
The Japanese have been using this as a method to reduce stress levels and foster wellbeing since the 80s, with other parts of the world starting to catch on over the last few years. It could really start to take off in Australia, as the University of Wollongong has received $1.5 million in federal government funding to run a randomised controlled trial – to see if doctor-prescribed time in nature can improve your health.
To me this seems very obvious, but sure. Let’s do some studies and make it official.
This practise is not to be mistaken for exercise, or a hike. You’re in a forest, bushland or whatever, in nature, but you’re using your senses. You touch and you feel, whether it’s tactile or the act of some emotion rising in your chest. You listen.
The session at the Botanic Gardens was conducted with trained guides. I go to these gardens around once a year and so, always forget how lovely they are. We stretched, we spent time with very majestic trees, we listened to the park around us. As is the nature of any big city, faintly, you could hear the sound of cars, buzzing along Melbourne’s southern roads. We walked through a herb garden, collecting smells. We simply sat and observed.
It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning and I don’t think it was a coincidence that I was able to meet a very busy Monday with a clear and level head. Perhaps give it a whirl the next time you’re in nature – stretch, smell, sit, whatever you choose, just simply be.
The best thing I ate this fortnight
It’s an easy one this week.
I received chef Karen Matini’s cookbook (entitled ‘Cook’) as a Christmas present last year and have been intermittently cooking the most delicious meals from it.
So, I have been very keen to head to HERO ACMI in Federation Square and sample her fare for myself.
My pal and I were there for lunch and ordered a bunch of plates to share. I was very keen on the crumbed fish sandwich, mainly because it comes with a side of crisps. The waiter hesitated, once we’d given our order.
“I should let you know, the fish sandwich is kinda hard to share,” he said. I looked him squarely in the eyes.
“Challenge accepted.”
To be fair, he was perhaps referring to the fact that it was delicious, and so half of the very-easy-to-cut-in-half-because-it-is-a-sandwich sandwich didn’t quite hit the spot.
To include some housekeeping as we wrap things up – What’s cooking now has an insta! Full disclosure here – I have not used the platform for many years and I have no idea how it works now, yay! Feel free to follow along to witness my confusion and suffering firsthand, or to just watch someone use the platform like it’s 2014… in 2023 (ie, be obsessed with their grid and forget all about stories and reels).
That’s it for this week. Catch you in a fortnight.
-Celine
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PPS. Rest assured, any puns are always intended.
I'm remembering the days where I don't complete my morning coffee ritual.... those are dark dark days.
Agreed – it's a common one but I feels personal to me!