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How Rituals and Routine Can Impact Our Lives

How Rituals and Routine Can Impact Our Lives

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by Sha LéWilante

Rituals are defined by the Cambridge dictionary as a set of fixed actions and sometimes words performed regularly, especially as part of a ceremony. [1] A routine is defined as a usual or fixed way of doing things. [2] They both require fixed actions. Elements of superstition can be present in both. For example, believing the performance or non-performance of the fixed action can lead to either good or bad consequences. It has often been pondered, debated and researched as to why as a human civilization we have developed rituals and how their uses impact our lives.

Practiced by different cultures, religions, professional practices, therapeutic practices, families, societies, countries, we see many examples. Various cultures will have rituals performed during annual holidays such as Thanksgiving in the US, and Guy Fawkes Day in the U.K. Rituals can be in the form of gestures such as bowing in Japan, or kissing booth cheeks in most of the Europe. Most religions will have sacred days such as Easter in the Catholic Church with the ritual practice of Lent. Puja (Pooja) is a Hindu morning practice performed daily, but only after bathing and dressing and before eating or drinking.

Professional practices may use certain colors throughout their establishment, for instance in China, red is a symbol of prosperity. And therapeutic practices may use a consultation as a routine and ritual for preparation to treat a client. Families may have a weekly gathering for Sunday lunch. Societies such as fraternities and sororities will have an induction process often referred to as pledging or rushing. In many cultures, the groom is not allowed to see the bride before the wedding on the wedding day.

We may see these ritual practices as a form of mindfulness. They engage a thought-focused process. Think about when you know it’s time to ‘get ready’ for bed. The ‘getting ready’ is the ritual. Every Saturday you may go to an outdoor market, and perhaps your routine is to look at all the fresh flowers.




There is some research on how rituals influence our thoughts and behaviors and, ultimately, how we feel. Professor Harvey Whitehouse, Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology heads up the ‘Ritual, Community and Conflict’ project funded body of anthropologists, psychologists, historians, archaeologists and evolutionary theorists.

Professor Whitehouse says ‘We wanted to test our theory that there were two basic clusters of activity in ritual: frequently practiced ritual with a low emotional intensity and less frequently practiced, more emotionally intense ritual. We surveyed 645 rituals from 74 cultures, selected randomly from the eHRAF (electronic Human Relations Area Files), and constructed a database recording frequency, arousal, and contextual information for each of the 645 selected rituals.’ [3]

The research covers evolutionary anthropology and social cohesion, but the research suggests that rituals precipitate our way of thinking, how we behave and how we feel.

Ritual and superstition can differ. If you are a tennis fan, you may witness various players perform rituals that may have elements of superstition. Examples are Rafa Nadal lining up his water bottles by his chair, or Andre Agassi insisting on using the same tennis ball with which a good point was made.

These rituals provide them with a sense of comfort and a stimulus of control over a situation that even the most talented player knows they cannot fully control. The opponent has a 50/50 stake on the control lever. They can, however, control how the bottles are lined up, or how he shuffles his feet on his way back to his chair. When we introduce another factor, for example, the change of ends on the court, this brings a new set of anxieties. We see the rituals increase or change with the presence of a new challenge.

A routine can bring a sense of comfort, stability, uniformity, community, peace, and calmness to our lives. We learn to seek pleasure and stability from within the womb. And stability is present until being thrust out into the world, where we breathe on our own and feel the heat and cold of the world outside of the womb.




As we grow beyond infancy into childhood, we may still require extra soothing. So, sucking your thumb, twiddling your hair, or biting your nails may bring a soothing, calming effect. In adulthood, we may continue some of those soothing rituals or create new ones. For instance, you may start smoking, drinking or over-eating. You may even continue to bite your nails or go from twiddling with your hair to pulling your hair (trichotillomania), or grinding teeth (bruxism). These are soothing rituals that can cause harm and can become difficult to treat in adulthood.

Soothing rituals may consist of yoga in the morning or evening, as you begin and end your day. Walking, making a toast with raised your glasses on a birthday, attending church on Sunday, saying a prayer over every meal, playtime with your pet, meditation, or reading the Sunday papers.

When faced with uncertainty, challenges, or new conditions, rituals can help to ground us in the here and now, as we do them in the present. The ritual can often disrupt the onset of negative thinking about the outcome of an event, your day or performance.

Besides athletes, rituals and routines can be seen practiced in other performance-related careers. Actors often tell each other to ‘break a leg’ before a performance. Athletes often use visualization to focus on winning. Performers may wear the same undergarments they wore when they created a particularly successful piece of work.

A musician may choose to work in the same studio in which they created their most critically acclaimed work. Some orators refuse to practice their speeches beforehand, as they think this will ruin the spontaneity of their talk. Various writers use the same manual typewriter with which they wrote the book that won them a particular accolade.

Human beings enjoy routine. It provides a sense of stability and a sense of participatory fulfillment.

Francesca Gino and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School, accompanied by Kathleen Vohs and Yajin Wang of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, carried out a series of studies. They investigated how ritual changed the experience of consuming different foods. A study using chocolate asked participants to taste the chocolate, by way of a ritual. They reported finding the chocolate more flavorful. A similar test with carrots, also eaten ritualistically, also reported more enjoyment.

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This evidence suggests that when there is personal involvement, it becomes the driver of these effects. ‘Rituals help people to feel more deeply involved in their consumption experience. This, in turn, heightens its perceived value.’ Harvard Business Review[4]

A ritual can help to reduce anxiety, and calm worry by acting as a distraction. It may be a mindfulness technique that supports focus. When practiced with others, it can create a sense of community and support. Rituals mean to benefit our lives. It may be time to adjust your routine.

References:

[1] http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ritual

[2] http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/routine

[3] http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-in-conversation/being-human/h…

[4] https://hbr.org/2013/12/new-research-rituals-make-us-value-things-more/

 

About the Author

Sha LéWilante is a Writer, Counsellor, Hypnotherapist, and Energy Healer. She is also a Spiritual Medium, lecturer on psychological development, and holds workshops on spiritual development. Sha brings the uniqueness of the best of both worlds. She has practical and analytical training coupled with the ethereal-based spiritual working narrative, which contributes an explorative perspective. Find out more at www.ninepeachestherapies.com or www.theseerslight.com

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