Lighting candles at dusk

The crickets remind me

Their chirping begins around that time too

The light is soft outside

Low in the sky

I chop kindling

Set a stack aside

To take to the fire

Offerings to the chimney

Please start easily

It usually does

I have a system

Two logs either side

Paper up the middle

Kindling stacked on top

Neatly spaced

Last log placed

Match and breath turn wood to flame

The room warms slowly

As the shadows creep up the walls

A deep bath is poured

More candles lit around it

Sliding in

The warmth

Envelopes

Scented oils rising on the steam

Simple luxury

The sun sets

And from my tub

I watch its reflection

Pink and blue is the sky in the east

Stars appear

Time to begin cooking

Velvet soft slippers

Golden floor boards

Flames flickering

All these familiar things

Could be routine

Instead

When life itself

Becomes your religion

They are rituals

Beloved

Sacred

Repeated

Prayers of evening gratitude

Whispered to the ceiling

Over and over

Days gifted

Who knows when they will end

One thing is for certain

This one will not come again

It deserves,

It deserves to be thanked

*Life happens – relentlessly – until we die.

Rituals, sacred spaces, awareness, gratitude, all these things and more, give us a support frame that we can return to day after day

No matter what happens

We can’t control chaos but we can choose how we react and when we have space, buffers and reassuring support frames

Our reactions come from a much healthier place

Besides which

Practices like these add lustre and depth to our time

If you have to do something anyway then why not turn it into a ritual rather than just routine

The difference is choice and awareness

In choosing you take the power

In bringing your full attention to a task, you draw energy from life instead of allowing it to drain yours

I’m changing up my Instagram and adding more of my own photography when time allows. Find me here https://www.instagram.com/kate_duff_poetry/