Why Rituals Are Important in Your Life
And how they can help you break old habits and create new ones.
Life is fast.
And it’s only getting faster.
Between being connected to your work, hustling to get ahead, and trying to keep your life from falling apart, we are quite busy individuals aren’t we? Thankfully, our brain has evolved to help us navigate our chaotic and messy world. We created habits.
Habits
Habits often go by unnoticed by ourselves — which is sort of the point. They are automatic behaviours directed by unconscious thoughts. When a particular behaviour is carried out repeatedly, the brain figures “This is done often enough, guess I’ll put it on auto and leave it in the background.” In doing so, there is one less thing to think about as you go through your day — your brain has reduced the cognitive load by making something a habit.
Imagine trying to go through your day where you had to think about every action you took. You would be totally wiped out by the time you were finished! As it is, your brain struggles to decide what to eat for lunch, let alone having to think about all the mundane tasks throughout the day.
Yet habits are not neutral. As you’ll find out, our habits can show us a lot about who we are…
