This little light of mine.

There is something meaningful and nourishing about traditions, those ritualistic things we do to celebrate events and holidays. Think of weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and all the times where we perform certain acts, hear certain music, and recite certain sayings that really bring us together as we share what has been done for decades or centuries. It's a way to connect with each other, to remember those who came before us, and to think hopefully about the future. This is the season for the Jewish High Holidays, to celebrate their New Year and to atone for the sins of the past year. Rosh Hashanah is the New Year, followed by ten days of personal self-examination leading to Yom Kippur, one of the holiest and most solemn days of the year. Its central theme is atonement and repentance for sins against both God and one's fellow man. There are feasts and fasting, recitations of prayers and reading of sacred text, as Jews gather to perform rituals celebrated in the same way as their ancestors.

We have far more rituals in our life than we realize, and most are ones we have created and continue without thought. Consider the hug and kiss when we see a friend, the "have a nice day" we say here or the "y'all come back" that I hear when I visit the south. I have read from the same Pooh story book to my grandchildren since they were tiny, as they prepare for a nap or a night of sleep, and they won't let me stop or read a different book. When I come home from work, I take off my shoes, unhook my bra, and change into something "comfy" before I read the mail and make dinner. In the morning before work, I put on sweats and tennies, put the dog on a leash, grab my cell phone and a plastic doggy-poopy bag, and head out for a walk, the same walk every time. Rituals are comforting and help us to live ordered lives in the midst of a chaotic world.

But sometimes it's good to shake thing up. Remember when I stopped the home delivery of the LA Times, which I'd received for decades and my life changed? I really noticed the difference, how I found other things to do with all the time I had spent reading it. A little shift, even parking in a different place for work or doing things in a different order, can create bigger changes.

I think I'm trying to say that sometimes we get into ruts. Some are good and help us have harmony and order in our lives. Some we just don't realize we're doing. I keep hearing that quote from Socrates, that "an unexamined life is not worth living." Maybe at this time of the year when the Jews spend ten days in self-examination, each looking individually at ways to be kinder and more generous and more compassionate, when it would be good for all of us to take a look at ways that we could better our lives and the lives of those around us. It can just be smiling at the guy or gal behind the counter when you get your morning coffee or really listening and not talking when our friends or even strangers talk to us. It could be being aware of our negative thinking and being more positive. Everything we do creates an energy in the world, either good or bad, so I vote that we take this time to find a few places or actions in our lives that might be negative and replace them with something positive or even joyful. I'll bet this will make us feel better about life and even might add a moment of happiness to the lives of others. We can't individually end the war or cure cancer, but we can sure shine a little light into the little space and time we are given. Let's do it!