How To Cultivate Rituals To Improve Your Work

 

The man sitting across the table from me has thin white hair. He writes in perfect cursive on a yellow legal pad, glancing back and forth at a stack of printed papers and written notes. I work in Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and WordPress on my MacBook Pro. We sit in silence, working together but separately.

Eventually, both of us hungry for a break, we put aside our work and strike up a conversation. 

“When I get hit with writer’s block, I take the train from Wilmington to Dover and back again. It always helps me write.”

That’s what he was doing today, riding the train simply for the pleasure of riding the train. He’d turned the small table on the Acela into his own personal office. 

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I travel with a purpose, when I travel. I go to attend conferences, visit conferences, meet with client, lead a workshop, speak at a seminar. Over the past years (ever since my time with Equality Ride took me crisscrossing across the country for two months), travel has become a routine part of my life.

When I was in school, I would always return home a day in advance, to unwind and decompress from my time on the road. Travel was a necessary in-between in the scenes of life. Now? I pack my belongings into a backpack, jump on the Amtrak at Penn Station and am on my way. I’ll arrive back in New York and flow right back into my routine. Travel just is.

At some point, travel became a sort of spiritual experience for me, a ritual. It’s the constant beat repeating in my life. It’s a time for solitude and reflection. I write a lot while I travel. And read. I used to take the bus to and from Washington, DC. That was not a spiritual experience, not a centering ritual. The hustle and bustle, the traffic and delays, the cramped quarters. I dreaded traveling and was completely unproductive.

The saints and yogis say that anything can be a spiritual experience: washing the dishes or tending the garden. I always thought that was a nice saying to make people content with humdrum lives. I see it now. I’ve found that in the train up and down the east coast (and on planes across the country and around the world).

Are there moments or occasions in your life where the ordinary takes on a profound dimension? When you’re able to tap into something deeper and experience life more fully? I’d be honored to hear about them. If you’re up for vulnerability, share with your social network (ping me if I’m there to let me know). You can always write me privately (or hit “Reply”) to share.

Happy travels.
- Bg