Ritual

As I’ve mentioned before, I like my coffee ritual. A recent HBR interview with Mike Norton helps to explain part of why I like it so much, and why we might find ourselves engaged in rituals. Regarding what’s important about rituals, he says, “What seems to matter is that you name it as a ritual, and that you actually do the ritual and don’t just think about doing it.” (Emphasis mine)

This, for my particular interests, is the single most important sentence in the article for what it suggests: our physical movements, our deliberate, thoughtful movements are what help us grieve, help us heal, help us keep going. Mindfully enacting a ritual, no matter how contrived, is more powerful than simply thinking about it, or perhaps even watching it. There are, somehow, powerful forces at work within us during rituals—mental and emotional—beyond those needed to simply move our limbs.