Rituals big and small

Next Monday, many people across the United States will notice the date on their calendar, and change their thinking, their feelings, and their behavior compared to July 3rd. For some it will occasion joy; others concern, reflection, ambivalence, and so on. Very few won’t notice.

Why? And I’m not talking about old papers with dead men’s names on them.

The repeating of ritual throughout one’s lifetime, especially one imbued with generations of intent (often conflicting) and meaning, evolves with time. It doesn’t reveal itself all in one showing. It’s not always nice. It doesn’t matter every time. For some people, it may feel simple and roundly positive; others may never feel like a true fit.

Ritual writ large across society embeds much, each deserving of a dissertation, a dissection, a discussion. But the pattern can be examined in smaller form, in your family and in your workplace.

What rituals do you have in your team, and in your work? Where did they come from? What parts are deliberate decisions embedded consciously, and what parts do you do that may serve a purpose no longer clear?

Just because a part of your ritual doesn’t make sense on first blush doesn’t mean that it’s without value. But it’s worth examining how things got to be the way they are, and questioning the foundations. Otherwise our rituals calcify into something closer to religions, and we lose our ability to question them and change them for the better.