A Morning Ritual

The morning ritual is not a wellness practice. It is a way of not beginning the day at speed.

It takes about ten minutes and involves four objects: a bar of soap, a hand wash, a small towel that is not the bath towel, and a cup of something hot that is allowed to go slightly cold.

The point is not the products. The point is that the first ten minutes are not spent being answered.

Wash the hands slowly. Rose clay and olive oil lathers less than you expect — that is the point, the skin is not being stripped. Rinse, dry them properly, including between the fingers, which nobody does.

Then the second wash, bergamot and grapefruit, because the first was for the face and this one is for the day. It smells like a citrus cut open on a board. It lasts three minutes and it is the only part of the morning that cannot be done in a hurry without becoming pointless.

No phone until it is finished. This is the entire rule, and it is the only one that is difficult.