The Ritual Effect
The Ritual Effect, From Habit to Ritual, Harness The Surprising Power of Everyday Actions, by Michael Norton, Scribner 2024
When I start to drift and my schedule changes, or I find interruptions and delays get crazy, I'm looking to recapture the positive and grab hold of some habits or rituals that solidify my day, my life - markers or indicators that highlight living with meaning. At this point post-Covid there must be many of us feeling the same need for positivity and structure, especially positivity. That's why this new book from Michael Norton, a Harvard B School professor and psychologist, appeared at the perfect time.
Rituals are the emotional catalysts that enhance an ordinary day or make special occasions memorable.
Rituals help us get over, get through and get better at the many challenges life presents us. Without rituals our lives become a soggy mess of daily highs and lows. Without rituals, as we learned during the Covid shutdowns, we miss life points whose importance become clear when they go missing. Witness the "lost" friends whose passing went unmarked, and sometimes even unnoticed, when Covid blocked their ordinary death rituals - no funeral services, no visitations, no family gatherings in the midst of the virus, even memorial ceremonies indefinitely postponed until well past Covid. . We would like to think that participating in conscious rituals holds us together and gives us more of a safe feeling in a life where we are continually challenged by the outliers.
But first, lets look at what author Norton says are the differences between habits and rituals. "Rituals are emotional catalysts that energize, inspire and elevate us," and the author promises that through his research and daily observations he clarifies the differences between a ritual, a habit, and a compulsion.
And what really illustrates and sells this message are Professor Norton's human stories, examples of rituals created, habits destroyed and bits of life imbued with new possibilities. Action steps, principles and definitions set forth are fine, and perhaps even necessary, but what truly works for reader involvement are the colorful bits of life injected as he builds his case for powerful changes. It's a refreshing approach to psychological redevelopment that grows from life examples.
For rituals, Norton's stories from his Irish Catholic family's holidays are poignant and encouraging. Despite his loud and persistent objections, for example, the family trip to St. Theresa's church for mass persisted.
It was the script: walk in, sit, stand, sign of the cross, sit, stand, walk, candles, eat, drink, kneel, sit, stand, shake hands, sit stand, sing, walk out The people in the pews around me,, including some of the people I love and respect most in the world, found deep meaning in this sequence. But I felt like an automaton, literally going through the motions. Those particular religious rituals didn't work for me, but other rituals absolutely did.
And yet somehow through the years this annoying experience became part his foundation. Although he admits to disliking these rituals, his love of the holidays led to a bigger and better array of practices.
The Ritual Effect makes us think and want to "straighten out the mess" with calming moves:
* we can see the key differences between a ritual, a habit and a compulsion
* we learn how rituals can boost our performance, enhance everyday pleasures, deepen our relationships and our belonging, and solidify our sense of purpose
* we see how the personal meaning imbued in a ritual gives it superpower, especially when it is realized among friends
* rituals can, done with some mindfulness, transform ordinary experiences into something bigger. Norton calls this "emodiversity" because awareness can generate more good and positivity for us in many areas
* as we begin to see rituals on a bigger screen, we can grow healthier and more positive life patterns
Thank you Dr Michael Norton for gifting us with this positive and encouraging work - your timing, showing us while we are still seeing and reacting to negative post-Covid changes, is perfect.
Patricia E. Moody
FORTUNE magazine "Pioneering Woman in Mfg"
IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert
A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers, patriciaemoody@gmail.com