Rituals make your life richer (GUEST BLOG)
Hello you lazy-hazy-crazy-days-of-summer.
Sister Leah here again, to give older sister Amy (the real genuine Earnest Platypus) a little summer break.
One of my joys in life is going for slow runs and listening to podcasts. I have many recommendations (Sporkful, Every Little Thing, No Stupid Questions, etc.), but I recently listened to a podcast that has been rattling around in my brain days after hearing it: The Power of Made-up Ritual (Season 2 Episode 3, The Happiness Lab by Dr. Laura Santos.
This podcast is about the power of rituals and ceremonies to help alleviate stress and angst, and build a sense of comradery….even if the rituals are totally made up and just something you do! Experiments found that doing a little ritual made people feel more relaxed and less stressed when completing the subsequent difficult task. We can all think about large scale rituals and ceremonies but it was the power of the very small and very personal actions that interested me.
I wondered about what little rituals I have built into my life to ease my troubled mind. And are there any that are unique to me? It is a murky task. You know when you sit around with your friends, sharing stories, and someone inevitably says ‘isn’t that what everyone does?’ I love (love!) learning these little quirky things about my friends but it makes the point. I don’t know if we know which little habits and routines in our lives are something everyone does, or if our quirks are uniquely ours.
Side note: Everyone screams ‘shake the bean bag’ when you drive through a coverage bridge, right?
After thinking about it, I found there are a few rituals that have been knowingly built into my adult life. On New Year’s Eve, we write down things we want to leave behind on little pieces of paper and light them on fire. Yes, fire is fun, but also the action of burning bad times into ash does make me feel lighter, released. Bad diagnosis? Nasty manager? Burn those suckers and move on.
Each Spring, I pull out this one big suitcase and pack away all my sweaters and warm socks – this action is me signifying to the universe that winter is official done. Mother Nature has been warned that the time for snow is over and my mind is now turning to the summer. In the Fall, I do the inverse action of unpacking my warm clothes and putting away shorts and t-shirts until warmer days are back. Once I pull out those sweaters, that’s it, summer is over, and I brace myself for the winter months. Another one is the slap-slap-fist-pump Abe and I do to celebrate the end of a long run.
Think through your day-to-day actions and all your little tasks and habits. What are some of your personal rituals and ceremonies that you’ve consciously or perhaps unconsciously built into your life? Which of those rituals might be delightfully unique to you? It’s a fun exercise, trust me. And next time we are together, I want to hear all about them!
And I will tell you about the ‘wet food’ song I composed and sing to my pets every night….
But before we go, there is second part to the podcast that also stuck with me. Beyond thinking about and delighting in our little weird rituals, we can also make better use of them. Ritual building can help ease stressful times and situations. We can just make one up, and it can have a positive impact on our day. Are there pain points in your life right now? If so, what little practices might you start doing to ease that pain? The rituals can be very simple - snap your fingers, twirl around, moo like a cow, reach up to the sky- and it can still provide some relief.
Want to see the power of ritual in action? Here’s a video of a couple who create a daily habit of dance to help heal after an accident.
Too much talk of rituals? If you are missing the joys of live sports this summer, how about watching every Blue Jays home run from their 2015 season? If that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.
Until next Sunday,
Leah, on behalf of the Earnest Platypus