The current religious season of Easter and Passover has me thinking about how rituals get a bad rap. By definition, a ritual is an act or series of acts that is done regularly and in a precise manner.
Some people hate rituals because they feel they rob life of spontaneity. That definitely can be true when everything becomes a mindless ritual.
However, rituals are useful when they act to remind us of something significant. That makes them more like meaningful habits than rigid customs.
The problem arises when we get more caught up in the ritual than the meaning which it signifies. For instance, going to religious services out of habit rather than because they help us grow in faith and spirituality is a pointless ritual to me.
Generally, I am not someone who believes in doing things simply for the sake of custom. The rituals present in the different areas of my life work together to allow me to be the whole person I want to be.
I know that an activity has significance beyond tradition when it has an effect on my sense of well-being.
Here are a couple of examples:
Journaling
Why I Do It – To force myself to think about things that get overlooked in everyday life.
My brain is a whirling dervish of thoughts at baseline. In order to be able to focus on what I need to get done, I have to offload some of the ideas that are constantly churning in the background.
Regularly writing in my journal forces me to think about stuff that requires attention and isn’t urgent enough to get top billing on any given day. These are important issues and ideas that always manage to get upstaged by a more pressing matter.
Unfortunately, they don’t go away just because I’m not focused on them. They simply linger in the recesses of my mind and drain my energy without being resolved.
This causes an uncomfortable sense of incompletion. I don’t have the extra space in my brain or energy in my system to let that situation go unchecked for any extended period of time.
That’s why I process concepts by writing in my journal. Sometimes, just by putting pen to paper I work through a topic and achieve resolution by the end of the page.
Journaling may not be the best method for everyone to make themselves deal with all the things that need attention in their lives. However, I encourage us all to have some regular ritual that serves the purpose of clearing our minds of clutter.
Morning Sun Salutations
Why I Do It – To move my body first thing in the morning.
My life now is such that I sit more than I have at any time since I was in my twenties. However, with every passing day I am reminded that my body is a completely different vessel than it was when I was 25 years old.
Staying in one place for a prolonged period is the enemy. My body doesn’t feel good when I move from lying in bed all night to sitting in a chair all day.
That’s why I start the day by moving through three rounds of sun salutations.
Funnily enough, if I skip my morning movements I don’t immediately notice how dysfunctional my body has become during sleep. I can very easily begin my day with a false sense that I’m maintaining at a decent level.
However, when I start my morning on a yoga mat I get the true story.
Moving through the asanas gives me a sense of how stiff and sore my muscles and joints are. Taking that time to be aware of my body’s mobility status keeps me honest about how much I really need to move over the course of the day.
Some people may see me traveling with a journal and a yoga mat and get the idea that I’m way more introspective than I actually am. I’m really just practical.
My brain functions better when I journal. My body functions better when I start the day with a few yoga moves. This information influenced the rituals I selected for myself.
Rituals gain significance when we choose ones that are meaningful to us. Rather than just programmed activities, they provide the foundation for our well-being.
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Dr Jattu Senesie is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, certified success coach, physician satisfaction specialist and speaker. She blogs about issues of self care and well-being in an effort to help her fellow altruistic high achievers find satisfaction in their success as early in their careers as possible.
