My experience of late, and that of many others with whom I’ve talked, is one of time hurtling forward. Faster and faster. Dizzying and relentless. Defying nearly all efforts to rein it in. One thing I’ve found allows me to pull back just a bit. To pause. To notice the moment and savor it. And that is ritual. Not elaborate or time-consuming ritual (indeed that’s the very thing I am trying to avoid—the rapid consumption of time). Rather: ritual as slow, mindful attentiveness

Daybreak reveals a heavy grey blanket of sky, coming to rest just above slate mountains’ rise into icy peaks.  It looks like November.  Filtered light makes its way through, silhouetting skeletal trees, whispering across brittle, tawny grasses breaking through the snow’s thin crust. We’re easing into winter this year.  Cold, snowy days followed by mild, almost springlike weather; this past weekend saw nearly 50 degrees, and I took the opportunity to harvest the remaining 7 lb