#VirtualRitual – Each weekday our friends from Penn, including Students, Staff, Faculty, Penn Religious Communities Council and other voices from campus will be sharing the ways their spiritual rituals have adapted while staying at home and as they connect to their spiritual communities remotely. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Today Steve Kocher, Sr. Associate Chaplain and Director of SPARC shares:

As the school year gets closer and closer I’ve been getting busier and busier and it’s reminded me of my need for a different kind of virtual ritual – not a daily practice but more of a seasonal practice – a reset reflection.

At natural starting points like New Year’s or the beginning of a new semester it’s really helpful for me to find some intentional time – a mini-retreat, a mini reset – to stop and reflect on what’s been happening and what’s to come.  This year I’ve needed that more than ever… and we’ve been able to get out into nature to have some of this reflective time

So as you approach the new school year, find some time for a reset reflection. If you can get outside for a mini-retreat, even just for an hour or so… What do you need to help you focus this year?  There is so much good advice out there and so many examples of good and healthy practices that I just get overwhelmed, or worse I try to do ALL the good things! That’s not sustainable and I end up crashing after a few weeks and feeling worse about myself.  What simple practices can you do that will be sustainable and life giving?