What is ritual? ✨

We're asking ourselves to think beyond just habits, and to reject the idea that the purpose of ritual is to make you a more productive human.

Rituals come in many different shapes and sizes - they may be performed in silence or with loud music, amongst others or alone. Your rituals may be a daily practice or a one-time event.

Rather than rely on our colloquial understanding of the word, we leaned on the experts for a little guidance:

“First, rituals are distinguished by a specific set of physical features pertaining to the characteristic aspects of the individual actions that compose them:

• They tend to be structured in rigid, formal, and repetitive ways (Foster, Weigand, & Baines, 2006; Rossano, 2012; Tambiah, 1979).
• Unlike other behaviors, rituals are typically chunked into units of segmented action, which then become sequenced, patterned, and repeated in fixed or bounded ways (Boyer & Liénard, 2006; Nielbo & Sørensen, 2011, 2015).
• In contrast to habits or routines, which may change each time they are performed, rituals tend to be invariable in their performance (Rappaport, 1999; Smith & Stewart, 2011).
• Because of this invariability, rituals typically require a “scrupulous adherence” to rules, whereby sticking exactly to the script is imperative (Dulaney & Fiske, 1994, p. 245).”

“Second, the invariability of its performance is also linked to certain psychological elements that come with performing the ritual, typically enhancing its meaning….In this way, the rules of the ritual cannot be relaxed because the actions themselves have significant meaning to the performer.”

"In this way, when done properly, the basic movements that comprise the prayer [or ritual] become much more than mere physical movements; they are imbued with sanctity and meaning, each time they are performed.”

-The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework

But don't let the experts intimidate you. If you think it's a ritual, it is.