How THIS Tradition Keeps Me Grounded

There’s something I find really  comforting about knowing that, no matter what is happening in the world, some things remain the same. I’m highlighting a tradition here – Friday night Shabbat dinner with my family.

No matter what’s happened during the week, the craziness of our personal schedules and the pace of the world we live in, each Friday, we come back to the same table.

I light candles (my ‘formal’ way of expressing gratitude, to a power that is Greater than myself).

My husband says the blessings (Confession – I had to have all of them explained to me, as I did not grow up with the same traditions, or the written blessings themselves)

There is food—usually lots of it. There is laughter, catching up on our weeks, and sometimes a little chaos.

It’s actually quite ordinary. Just a family meal.

But over the years, I’ve come to realize how important that simple tradition is in my life, and how grounding it is.

We live in a world that can feel unsettled. We can always ‘find’ something to worry about, something to keep us up at night, something happening somewhere that whispers ‘danger’.

And here’s the thing. Even when everything may be fine in our own lives, our nervous systems absorb all that uncertainty around us.

And this is where TRADITION comes in. It gives us something to count on.

Shabbat dinner has become an anchor in my week. I count down (sometimes thinking of my menu as of Wednesday!!!). I know where I’ll be and I know who I’ll be with. Even though it involves work and preparation, it has become routine and familiar, and each and every week, I’m grateful for the opportunity to do it.

When I’m (finally) sitting at the table with family around me, I find it deeply calming. When I practice meditation and I seek a visualization of  ‘calm’, this is the image I conjure up in my minds eye. My family sitting around the same table ♥

In therapeutic yoga, I often talk about creating a safe space for clients. They actually tell me that when they walk into my home studio, they automatically feel their shoulders drop; ‘I’m already more relaxed’ they will say as they walk down the stairs. In the studio we use breath and movement, awareness and stillness to create moments of safety. Once the body feels safe, from there we can gently help the fluctuations in the mind to settle as well.

For me, THIS tradition does something similar.

It gives us all (my family)  a chance to come back to ourselves. (As a sidebar, I think it’s grounding for our adult kids as well to know they can always walk into their parents home, disconnect, re-connect, make a mess, and afterwards, go back to their own lives of course!)

Every week, we return to this same ritual, and its in the returning that I find the comfort. In the familiarity of the laughter, the (sometimes loud) discussions, the food, the connection, and the previous generations that gave us these traditions.

In a world where everything changes so quickly, THIS tradition has become a pillar of the week for me. Something I can hold onto and feel safe. 

We can’t necessarily make the world a calm place. Traditions can help us find the calm within. 

What tradition helps to keep YOU grounded?

I’d love to hear about it ♥