Rookie Counseling

Chaos Necessitates Stability

As much as people enjoy spontaneity and impulsiveness, humans thrive in routine. In those spaces of sacred ritual, people grow their skills, settle their minds, and plan their goals. Recent literature shows that rituals can improve mental health and provide a stable point to return to after the chaos of life.

What Makes a Ritual

The American Psychological Association defines a ritual as “any habit or custom that is performed routinely and with little or no thought.” With that in mind, it is easy to think of a list of daily habits that can fit that definition, but don’t provide clear those benefits rituals claim.

It turns out that any hobby or activity that is repetitive and predictable can provide the benefits of a ritual. The difference between a hollow routine and a life-giving ritual is your decision to place importance on the activity. The ritual of sitting down for a cup of coffee to prepare mentally for your day can aid in diminishing anxious thoughts or concerns.

Brooks, et al. found that “the fact that the same set of behaviors was more effective for reducing anxiety when represented as a ‘ritual’ than as ‘random behaviors.’” When rituals are given importance, the are proven to lower elevated heart rates, calm anxiety and improve performance. Without this value and intentionality, rituals become benign routines.

Why Rituals Matter

Rituals have a number of studied and proven benefits. When performed with a belief of importance, rituals can give both personal and communal benefits. The consistent repetition of rituals can ease anxiety and create stability and normalcy, which can be hard to find in the outside world. A study by Legare, et al. found that, by creating that stability for themselves through rituals, people feel an increased sense of control and power in their lives.

In addition to regulating your emotions, you can also increase your focus on performance goals. Hobson, et al. found that participants in their study who took part in a ritual before taking a short test did significantly better than participants who had not taken part in a ritual. The meditative, focused state of performing a ritual calms and prepares people for the task ahead. Surprisingly, the more difficult the task ahead appears to the person, the more effective their ritual will be in increasing their performance.

The benefits of rituals are not solely personal. Participating in a ritual can increase your social connection with others. Páez, et al. found in their study that the necessary coordination of shared rituals increases the feeling of connectedness. Rituals such as work out classes, worship groups, prayer groups, and other communal rituals build social connection through shared focus and the feeling of emotional “synchrony.”

Shared rituals, especially those seen in tight-knit micro-communities and religious groups, lead to a sense of oneness and meaningful shared experiences. An important fact to keep in mind is that participating in physically or financially costly rituals can drastically increase your sense of unified community within with the group associated with the ritual. The more you sacrifice to participate in a socially important ritual, the more importance you place on that ritual. Keeping that in mind as we choose which rituals to participate in can help us avoid becoming socially invested in abusive and coercive groups.

While participating in rituals can give people a sense that things will work out for them, relying too heavily on the superstition of rituals can reflect the compulsive behaviors of OCD. The research proves that when participating in rituals people find peace and confidence in the idea that the outcome of future challenges will be in their favor. Knowing that rituals bolster your confidence can help you grow in self-confidence. But be sure to remember that your skills and value are inherent, not due to the practice of that ritual.

Additionally, the perception of community that shared rituals build can lead to an “us vs. them” mindset. The strong community curated is always positive, but adding the concept of superiority to your in-group can lead to unnecessary competition between your community and others.

Rituals also preserve the cultural traditions and values of a group. Without rituals, every culture as we know it would be forever changing and continually erased with the passage of time. Widayati et al. (2023) found that people in the Sukowilangun Village celebrated rituals like dancing and traditional artistry helped the younger generations engage with their cultural heritage.

Rituals keep us connected to our community, our culture, and our identity. 

Rituals that Work

Shearer, et al. found that mindfulness meditation is proven to reduce stress and improve the sense of control people have toward their lives. Another surprisingly beneficial routine is the simple practice of expressive writing. Pennebaker, et al. proved. the benefits of expressive writing can not only provide therapeutic benefits of release and closure in regard to the contents of the expressive writing but also a sense of control over the external factors in one’s life.

Exercise as a routine has well-known physical and mental benefits. As a ritual, the intentional decision to view exercise as mental and emotional self-care can provide clarity of mind and a sense of purpose and growth beyond the physical activity.

Rituals to Try

Social standards often equate rituals to religious antiquity. However, expanding your definition of rituals can include activities you already regularly practice.

Some helpful rituals to continue or try out.

• specific to mindfulness (journaling/meditation)
• walks
• morning routines (could include ritualistic coffee or reading)

Some people find solace in daily journaling or meditation. Both activities encourage mindfulness and create a safe place for you to organize your thoughts or plan our your day. While we cannot control what happens outside of us, giving ourselves internal structure can strengthen our mental state and prepare us for what the world has in store.

Healthy rituals can be found in many aspects of your daily life. Whether its your morning routine, celebratory Friday dinner, or weekly meeting with a friend, these rituals provide you with a sense of confidence and stability that can reinforce your ability to face challenges.

Any hobby or activity that is repetitive and predictable can provide the benefits of a ritual. The difference between a hollow routine and a life-giving ritual is your decision to place importance on the activity. You can improve your own performance by allowing yourself to accept external uncertainty by intentionally creating stability within your personal life.

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Resources

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Ritual. In APA.org dictionary. Retrieved August 25, 2023, from https://dictionary.apa.org/ritual

Brooks, Alison Wood, Julianna Schroeder, Jane Risen, Francesca Gino, Adam D. Galinsky, Michael I. Norton, and Maurice Schweitzer. “Don’t Stop Believing: Rituals Improve Performance by Decreasing Anxiety.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 137 (November 2016): 71–85.

Hobson, N. M., Bonk, D., & Inzlicht, M. (2017). Rituals decrease the neural response to performance failure. PeerJ, 5, e3363. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3363

Legare, C.H. and Souza, A.L. (2014), Searching for Control: Priming Randomness Increases the Evaluation of Ritual Efficacy. Cogn Sci, 38: 152-161. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12077

Páez, D., Rimé, B., Basabe, N., Wlodarczyk, A., & Zumeta, L. (2015). Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(5), 711–729. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000014

Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing About Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process. Psychological Science, 8(3), 162–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00403.x

Shearer, A., Hunt, M., Chowdhury, M., & Nicol, L. (2016). Effects of a brief mindfulness meditation intervention on student stress and heart rate variability. International Journal of Stress Management, 23(2), 232–254. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039814

Widayati, S., Setiyaningsih, L. A., Affandi, A. S., Saputra, A. D., Sufoyanto, S., & Cahyaningsih, D. S. (2023). Preserving the Local Wisdom of Sukowilangun Village through Cultural Rituals Towards a Cultural Heritage Tourism Village. Bulletin of Community Engagement, 3(2), 119-. https://doi.org/10.51278/bce.v3i2.907