Colette Lafia

WHAT daily rituals comfort you?

10 Responses ~ Please add yours below

1. Response from Alissa:
   April 2nd, 2008 at 7:54 am

   A cup of tea…as soon as I start the kettle I begin to relax.

2. Response from Mark:
   April 4th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

   I love playing my bass guitar for hours.

3. Response from Colette:
   April 15th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

   A Bath
   There are such things as comfort rituals — reading in bed, eating popcorn at the movies, listening to love songs.

   The simple luxury of taking a bath is one of my favorite comfort rituals. I like preparing for a bath, setting the water to the right temperature, adding lavender bubble bath, lighting a few candles in the bathroom, and changing into my robe.

   I like to linger before I get in the tub, letting my senses take in the sweet scent filling the bathroom, the amber glow of the candles, and the cool air on my skin. I step into the warm water, and sink my body into this royal experience. Comfort, felt deeply, sensuously, nurtures me in the core of my being.
   – Comfort Vignette (taken from Comfort and Joy: simple ways to care for ourselves and others (forthcoming from Conari Press, May 2008), by Colette Lafia)

4. Response from Christine:
   April 15th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

   Every morning I walk around my garden, under the arbors and along the path, saying goodbye to the flowers that are fading, welcoming the ones that are beginning to bloom–observing, and trying to be at peace with, the cycle of life and death.

5. Response from Joanna:
   April 16th, 2008 at 4:37 am

   I used to rush in the morning. Now I have a slow, comforting morning ritual: I make myself a hot cup of tea and greet the morning by sitting on the couch and looking out the window (as I am doing right now!): ah! the dogwood is bursting with blossoms, how warm and inviting today’s spring light is. NYC is waking up–and so am I.

6. Response from loretta wolfe:
   April 18th, 2008 at 11:40 am

   Every morning I pour myself a large glass of diet coke over ice. Lots of ice. It brings back memories of my summers spent in the humid heat of Texas. I was an only child, living a thousand miles away from my birth home, and summer was the only time I spent surrounded by grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins of all ages. We always drank Coca Cola; on picnics, on porches, or even at Sunday dinner.

   Now as I sip my morning coke over ice, lots of ice, I feel surrounded by their love, as warm as any southern sun.

7. Response from Renee:
   April 28th, 2008 at 5:14 pm

   When it is warm enough I sit in my steamer deck chair, with coffee, and gaze into the morning sun filtered through the trees in my yard. I usually am praying or meditating during this time as well, but it is a way to slowly move into what is always a hectic day.

8. Response from Chris:
   April 29th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

   Lately I’ve been going to the open space near my house and walking my dog as the tall grasses steam in the early morning sun. If I get there too late, it just isn’t the same. That mist — amazing. When it is just right, the day bursts open with possibilities.

9. Response from Martha Adriasola:
   May 12th, 2008 at 10:52 am

   Looking at the ocean is a comfort. I work in the avenues in S.F.; every morning as I arrive to work and every evening as I leave I make a conscious effort to stop and gaze at the ocean – whether it is calm, topped with white caps or waves are violently crashing on the shore it helps me know that it is a constant – something that will always be there for me and others to contemplate, see it’s power and beauty, and find comfort in.

10. Response from Paula Kravitz:
    May 12th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Connecting to quietude — whether in prayer, a moment of contemplation, a few deep breathes or writing a note to myself on a piece of paper. It reminds me of what’s essential in the midst of a busy day.