Why, in seemingly every tradition, are there ritual practices?
Because rituals work, that’s why. They work through repetition; through continual practice, the attentive mind learns the steps until they are memorized. Once the mind’s focus is no longer needed to complete the ritual, it goes on “auto-pilot”, and the adept can repeat the ritual and focus the mind deeper, awakening the heart/soul/whatever (depends on the ritual, of course). This allows for a much deeper level of presence to be had, transforming the result of the ritual, and the mind of the practitioner.
Or, as my martial arts teacher would say, “First, the mind teaches the body what to do. Then, the body refines the movement, teaching the mind how it wants to move. Finally, body and mind are united as one.” He also said that once you performed an action 10,000 times, you had it mastered.
Clearly, rituals rock. In disciplines such as spirituality, or martial arts, that’s a no-duh statement. But what about in your work day? Do you have rituals?
If you answered no, allow me to differ. Uh, email? Twitter? Checking your voice mail?
And those are just the ubiquitous ones… depending on what line of work you’re in, you’ve probably got a bunch more. Here are some of mine:
- Health: CrossFit, 4-5 days a week. And if you think CrossFit doesn’t count as a ritual, you don’t know CrossFitters! We check the Workout of the Day (WOD) religiously, the star-performers of CrossFit are like heroes, and we read the CrossFit Journal like it’s a holy text. Trust me; don’t get in between a CrossFitter and his/her workout.
- Personal Growth: I have a set of practices I do regularly designed to enhance my sense of connection, develop my focus, and keep me moving towards the future I envision. These include gratitude, visualization, self-healing, and more (I’ll be sharing more about this as time goes on, in case anyone’s curious…).
- Business: I write, tweet, and email, like many do. I also regularly search for web design and development knowledge, reading feeds of favorite designers and design compendiums, investigating WordPress plugins and theme developments, etc.
There are more, of course, but you get the idea.
In my mind, these all qualify as rituals, because the more I do them, the more aware I am of the effects of the practice themselves, and the more I transform as a person through doing them (yes, even through Twitter). They make me better at what I do, of course… but it would be easy to do any of these and not get the same benefits.
What makes the difference? Intention. Have the intention to carry your focus and presence deeper as you do your daily rituals, and see what happens. If you’ve never thought of your work as potential for ritual before, take a moment and reflect on your day… where does this idea of ritual make perfect sense?
Some days are just meh.
Of course, some days you’re on, and some days you aren’t. Some days, email is just email. Meditation is just sitting there. Chanting is just mindless blather. After all, I’m no Master Oogway, either.
But that’s not a deficiency in the ritual, it’s a lack of intention and presence. Any regular activity can be transformed into ritual with the proper mindset.
So, if you notice yourself out of the groove one day, you’ve got a choice: Hop back up into the saddle, or let it go, and just be where you’re at (that’s called ‘acceptance’). There’s always another day.
What rituals do you use?
Image by moriza.
Hey Adam,
I have many rituals, but am trying to tweak them into ones that help me grow. I truly believe rituals have the capacity to make life flow with ease. For instance, I need to tweak my email ritual and get into the habit of checking them certain only times of day only because I can get carried away with them and then time flies by and I don’t get done what I set out to get done. Then I don’t feel right-out of alignment. But when I am truly aligned, and like you said, backed with an intention, then I do that which makes me grow, and being aligned, it just feels good and in the flow.
Just need to maintain the tweaking process – I’m getting there.
Thanks for this reminder.
Gina
I have a similar piece with Twitter as you do with email, Gina… if I’m focused, it’s great. If I lose focus and let it consume the day, I’m sunk.
I’m taking it easy on myself with it, though, since I’ve been emailing for years, but tweeting for much less; with all things, there’s a rhythm, a “right relationship”… it’s just a matter of finding it.
Two important rituals are using the weight machines at the Y every other day and getting at least a half-hour to an hour of exercise a day. And, of course, writing two posts a week–one for each of my blogs.
When I follow my ritual to centre myself, acknowledge spirit and connect with the client I am writing for, then the words flow and the results are breathtaking. If I write from a space of distraction without the ritual focus, then the words feel bumpy and scratchy. Now if I can just remember to do the ritual EVERY morning and not just for “big” projects all will be better.
My other ritual relates to being in a home-based business. I leave from the front door in the morning when I drop my kids to school, then enter the building via the office door, turning the open sign as I go. In the afternoon I reverse the process, even though there is a door joining the office with the rest of the house. This little ritual helps me to be mindful of my work/life separation and to keep the right boundaries in place.
That’s a great ritual, Ingrid… I used to keep a little door-hanger on my office door when I was at work, with a picture of my little meditating monk on it. Supposedly, when the monk was showing, my daughters knew to be quiet, and not disturb Daddy. Supposedly…
And, you’re right on — it’s the remembering to do the ritual that makes all the difference.
That’s funny your teacher mentioned 10,000 times. I was just reading Outliers yesterday and he had a chapter about the 10,000 hour rule. Saying that most people haven’t mastered something until they have practiced for 10,000 hours, which is like 10 years. At first when I read that, I was kind of let down in a way. I can’t wait 10,000 hours to be good at something! But I realized, I don’t need to be a master at what I do, in order to make a living from it or enjoy it.
I’ve personally be trying to introduce more positive rituals into my daily life. I have tons of not so good rituals, like constantly checking emails, and so on. But now I start my day off with some exercise, QiGong, and meditation. It’s a great way to wake up, feel good, and then move on to the rest of my day!
@Nathalie – you’re not alone with the email checking! That’s something I’m working to get a handle on. I’m with you on starting the day with meditation and exercise – the day definitely flows much better when I start that way!
blessings!
Very true, Mike — I’m no professional singer, by any stretch of anyone’s imagination, but I still love to do it.
Nathalie, your mention of qigong reminds me of when I helped my older brother move to Northern California to attend vet school… we got up each morning, went out on the porch of this old ranch house he rented, and did qigong looking out over the sugar beet fields. That was a great, albeit short-lived, ritual.
And you and Gina talking about email reminds me of how much better my day goes when I don’t start it with email!