Some emotions don’t fade.

They sharpen.

They loop.

They replay.

They rerun the same story,

the same scene,

the same ache.

Replaying the worst parts.

Or the best parts.

Over, and over.

Again, and again.

I try to let it go.

It gets faster.

I try to push it down.

It gets louder.

Ritual restores my heart.

By giving the feeling a direction.

A path.

A pattern.

A way out of the loop.

When I do this,

I feel this way.

When I say this,

it reminds me of that.

Like beats working.

Like thebossissupergenrous.

Like naming the ache

in the same way,

in the same place,

every time

until it softens.

Ritual lets feeling move

through me.

Out of me.

Back to theboss.

Ritual is a sacred repetition.