ASSIGNMENT
Personal list #1: list aspects of yourself that you would like to change
Personal list #2: list aspects of your life that you would like to change
Personal list #3: list situations in the world that you would like to change
make your lists with focus and a determined personal commitment to seriously engage each of the aspects and situations that you name. These lists are your private, personal meditation for your own use and should not be shared or handed in.
On the first page, describe a ritual that is already part of your life. This ritual can be an unconscious or semiconscious element of your life. Perhaps you’ll only become aware of it by looking deeply. It could be an activity or series of gestures that you’ve inherited, it could be something that you’ve seen or heard that has inspired you, or it can be a ritual that you yourself have created for yourself and the circumstances of your life.
Write with as much insight and detail as you can. Perhaps there is a ritual you’ve created in response to stress, panic, or a moment in your life where you needed to break through to deeper meaning, to a different kind of fulfillment, in the face of failure, or abandonment, or despair. Perhaps this ritual is crucial to your survival, your wellbeing, your self-confidence and your sense of direction. Perhaps it is a shared ritual that joins you to family or friends or to a supportive community.
Perhaps this ritual is organized, regular, repetitive, cumulative, and consistent, or perhaps it is random or something that you’ve only done once in your life.
Write with as much insight and detail as you can.
On page two of the 2-page assignment, describe how you will transform, adapt, or repurpose your existing ritual to address one of the topics on your private list. Write with as much insight and detail as you can.
