The purpose of ritual is to let your soul know that it is about to do something different than before, something important. –Keri Smith in The Wander Society.

In her amazing and influential book Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin talks about foundational habits–seemingly little things that make it easier to develop better habits. She says that along with decluttering, good sleep, exercise, and eating can make make or break your ability to create better habits.

If our capacity for wonder, our capacity for delight, is something that we can grow and deepen, then there might be analogous habits that set the stage.  I’d go a step further and say that we can create simple rituals that act as a que for our wonder.  A little something to nudge us in the direction of wonder.

Over the next week we’ll look at these four

• celebrations
• lighting candles
• prayer
• and Sabbath keeping.

For the sublime and the beautiful and the interesting,

you don’t have to look far away, you have to know how to see.

–Hedda Sterne

Even on the best of days, life can feel like a constant rush to finish the to-do list before collapsing into bed.

The days fly by, and sometimes I’m left wanting.  I want a life aware of deeper rhythms, receptive to everyday beauty.

Wonder–our capacity for delight–opens us to the possibility of beauty and grace.

In her book Poemcrazy, Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge says that,

“it’s impossible to teach anyone to write a poem.  But we can set up circumstances in which poems are likely to happen.”

Join me this month as we explore the circumstances that make wonder likely happen.

These simple practices sustain a heart tuned to sing praise.

#TheWonderProject