A Cup of Coffee

Routine

To make Routine a Stimulus
Remember it can cease-

Emily Dickinson

Now that my routine is about to cease, I catch myself thinking of the little things I do every day. Those little things that we take for granted because we do them almost automatically. I avocate not to be a great fun of repetition (my son Bernardo demands repetition to feel happy and safe, and I worry about him the most, wondering how long it will take him to get used to new surroundings). But now I realize that I incorporated a series of almost invisible habits. For instance, after breakfast, I always go back to my room with a cup of coffee and drink it by one of my windows looking at the trees, thinking about absolutely everything or nothing. It is such a part of my day that I started waking up earlier to be able to do so unhurriedly. 

Another good one: I go walking to the gym most mornings. I get irritated when it is raining hard and I can't do it. I like to watch the people going to work, do some window shopping, look at the vendors and then finally get to the gym and do mostly the same thing every day: 45 minutes run and then weights. Weights are still not routine like pilates was. Pilates was like a second nature to me. I miss the stretching and the awkward positions and the individualized attention from the instructor. Oh yes, and the massages too.

One more vanity particularity: I managed to turn into a routine rather fast those dermathologist's prescriptions: wake up, wash my face, put sun screen on, go to bed, wash my face and put a cream on.

I call the kids from work religiously twice a day. Around 1 pm, I call to talk to Belle. I call again around 7 pm to talk with to all, since they are all back from school now. It is so automatic that at the appointed time my fingers do the dialing before my mind realize what they are doing.

Another thing became a joke among my co-workers. It has to do with my daily intake of cashew nuts. I have exactly 15 every day. They make fun, but most of them partake this addiction to the point of giving me cashew nut bags as a gift out of guilty (sometimes I go back to work and find that they are all gone).;-) One more food habit: drinking a glass of orange juice blended with kale leaves and a touch of apple at night. That is the one thing Joana made sure the new maid learned fast.

One more routine thing: I recite the rosary every night, no matter how tired I am. I feel it is a way to keep in touch with my faith, and I need it more than it needs me.  

posted by Livia de Almeida @ 10:38 AM