Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is the one thing my day cannot do without.
Better Habits
We all do different things to get through the day.
Many start their mornings with some coffee. Others read before bed to ease tired eyes which have stared at screens all day.
Here I wish to discuss a type of good habit I see many people unfortunately ignore. This would be the reflective habit. Daily routines based on calmly stepping out of the day to review our lives and think of how best to move forward.
Building such a habit has helped me find more time each day and work through tough times. This is to say nothing of the various benefits for my creative life.
I can process my day and turn it into inspiration for writing. I can think how best to arrange my time and better fit writing into my day.
So, what is this amazing habit which seems to make many things right?
For me, it is a Rosary.
I am Catholic, so relying on a Catholic prayer honoring Jesus and His mother works well for me.
Now, I recognize not everyone is religious. I recognize not everyone who is religious comes from my same faith tradition.
Others may certainly find different ways to reflect on their lives. These ways will often depend on which things they deem to be important.
Still, I believe the best way for me to discuss benefits of reflective habits includes myself as an example, and the Rosary is what works for me.
Initial Experience
My experience with the Rosary began in Catholic schools. From time to time, religion classes would have us work through the prayer.
Earlier grades would only do a single decade (a group of ten “Hail Mary” prayers followed by a biblical scene called a mystery).
Later grades would go through a whole Rosary. At least, they would do their best. A group Rosary can take a while.
The prayer has moments of contemplation. Thinking about life in light of the prayer and its biblical scenes. Group Rosaries sometimes try developing these moments as full discussions.
Contemplated mysteries were sometimes tied to their assigned days.
We covered Jesus’ birth in the Joyful Mysteries on Monday and His passion in the Sorrowful Mysteries on Friday.
Other times we covered mysteries tied to what our classes were teaching at the time.
Learning about Jesus’ teachings and miracles? Time to cover the Luminous Mysteries. Learning about His resurrection? Let’s contemplate the Glorious Mysteries.
Now, this was how I became acquainted with my Rosary. How I learned the order and words of each prayer within the prayer. How I started attaching meaning to the experience.
Adding the Rosary to my daily routine would not come until sometime later.
Becoming Part of my Day
When I was young, the Rosary seemed far too long to be done daily.
I had nothing against it. I just did not view it as something which could be fit into my daily routine.
Then I went through a brief struggle in college.
I have already gone into detail on this time in a prior post, so I do not wish to discuss it too much here.
I will say that I was at a point where I no longer saw much of my initial college friends. I also did not have the strong Catholic presence in my life I had grown up with.
Those factors combined with a growing college workload and made things rough for me.
Among other solutions, I grabbed a Rosary. My family had a few from over the years. Now was the time to put one to use.
I started praying the Rosary whenever I felt I was at my worst. I felt like I could escape from my day and return to it with new eyes.
Over time, I started to wonder why I only grabbed my Rosary in my worst moments. Maybe I would have less of those times if I kept up with my Rosary in my better moments too.
So, I adopted the practice daily. Made it my main reflective habit. Time to step outside of everything, time to think about things in light of something bigger than myself. A chance to return to the world better than before.
Minor Variations on the Same Routine
Now let us cover some of the finer details of maintaining a reflective habit.
Some may expect daily habits to grow tiresome. That things which refresh us today will lose their power given time.
I can see some truth to this argument.
Many people want some variety here and there. That is often half the fun of vacations and holidays compared to the rest of our days.
Thing is, the occasional desire to break routine does not mean we should not have a few routines which are always with us.
Some stability should always remain. It ensures we stay on our game when we return to our usual lives.
That being said, some minor variety can be added around reflective habits. Something to change up how we think about things without undoing our whole processes for thinking about things.
For me, I can pray the Rosary any time of day I want to.
Generally, I pray the Rosary in the morning so I can think ahead to the rest of the day and think about what I need to do.
If I wish to do something different, I can move my Rosary time to the night. Reflect on the ending day and unwind my mind a bit.
Another possibility is finding variation in the reflective habit itself. Not enough to change the nature of reflection, just something to alter a few areas of focus.
Lucky me, the Rosary has built-in variation. Different days call for contemplation of different mysteries. Different scenes to guide your reflections.
Of course, I must also highlight the largest source of variation: yourself.
When you have a reflective habit, you will bring different thoughts, concerns, and experiences each day. Trust me when I say you would be surprised how many different things you will think through across time.
Finding Your Own
Again, I recognize not everyone is religious. I recognize not everyone who is religious comes from my same faith tradition.
As a reflective habit, the Rosary is what has proven to work well for me. My faith is important to me, and I have some level of experience with the prayer all throughout growing up.
I would recommend the Rosary to anyone who is interested, but I know not everyone would choose that path.
There are plenty of ways one could develop a reflective habit.
Keeping a journal would be one common example. Daily journal entries allow you to process things as you write. You would also be writing for yourself, so no need to worry about grammar or style.
Blogging and vlogging could be good for someone who wishes to use their reflections to help others get through the day as well.
I suppose another example could be found in finding a conversation or e-mail partner. Some people reflect best on things when they are working through things with another person.
Whichever path you choose, I would say the best thing is to make a conscious choice to keep up the reflective habit as a reflective habit. A daily commitment can really work wonders.
I hope my example of a daily Rosary can help you see how best to adopt your own reflective habit. I will keep that hope in my prayers.
Brief Notice
In a prior post, I had stated that I would be teaching the senior theology class at St. Mary’s. Scheduling changes have now resulted in me teaching the sophomore theology class. I am still excited for the opportunity to do good work at the school I love so much.
That post also mentioned plans to create a Twitter account and run ads. I am still looking into these actions, but I will still need some more time before I can get started with them.
Kotcher’s Call to Action
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