The Power of Routine

The power of this routine begins to take hold on me. On the one hand it is a bit silly. It is a list of eight or ten things I do every morning. Sometimes they seem almost random and the thought occurs to me, “Really? Why did I pick these things?” But I did them all this morning when a part of me didn’t want to, especially the walk part at the end. No, this is powerful.

It makes me think whether I have the best things in this routine. Could I improve upon this? Just how much upward space do I have really? This is heady stuff for the Ridge Walker. My life is anchored on just this single thing. I have said publicly if I could go back to young Joel and give him just one piece of advice that he would pay attention to and take to heart it would be to implement a routine in his life that contains a small number of carefully selected things that he would do every day for the rest of his life. If I were allowed one other thing, I would give him the first item to include on the list. Meditation.

This morning I was gripped by fatigue and I didn’t want to start the morning routine. Two hours later I am sitting here writing this missive which is currently the last thing on the list.

This month I have been practicing daily meditation for five years. I have been closing my day out with reading. I could go through the other things that are in my routines, I have a morning and evening one. The contents are fluid. I continue to try new things, and drop things off that don’t seem to fit at the moment. It is almost an obsession. I have been doing this for over three decades.

My life is about making the best version of myself that I can. I have always been this way. I came into this life wired with this as my focus. All my dad did was give me a bit of a nudge in a direction I was already headed. Reaching the top in my career wasn’t as important as this, neither was any measure of worldly success. I once told one of my sons, “When the journey is over, I will be complete.” He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “When you are complete the journey will be over.” That sentiment seems more than a little filled with hubris now. I will be content if I can die a good man, one who loved and lifted those around him.