Rituals

Rituals are an important aspect of life, culture and comfort.  While many rituals are deeply rooted in religion or ethnicity, some are simply acts that give us comfort due to familiarity.  This can be as simple as the food one eats before a marathon or the way you unpack your suitcase when arriving at a business hotel. 

One of the rituals that I hold closest is the morning coffee.  Over the past few years I have taken great satisfaction of getting the process right.  I have two ways of making morning coffee, one a bit more time consuming than the other.  In both cases it requires the perfect amount of coffee beans, ground to exacting tolerances and water heated to a specific temperature.  While I prefer the pour over method, I will more often than not use a French press due to efficiency.  I will however never use a Keurig or other contraption that removes the joy of the process from the experience.

Rituals are not about outcomes, they are about the process. They are comforting in the perfection of the small details that are otherwise lost in the need for efficiency that pollutes many other aspects of life.