Hidden Rituals Right in Front of My Face

Ritual - the word makes me think of smoldering sacrifices, incense, and bells... people on mystic islands doing things with dead birds and their entrails. But what about here and now? What do we all do that we don't even realize that we do every day? Quick, pretend you are brushing your teeth; do you always start in the same place? always proceed in the same direction? Most of us do. What ELSE do you do that might look like automatic pilot but is secretly one of your day-to-day rituals?
What do you "always" do when you:

• get into your car
• leave your home, apartment, or room
• go on a date or out to be with friends
• clean up your space
• take a shower

Where does "luck" and "superstition" come into it? Why do we do these things? Would we be weirded out if one day we did them differently? Do we sometimes even go back and redo them "correctly"? It all makes me wonder how many of these little "rituals" we would notice if we really looked.

A Ritual of Mine

Nowadays I don't do anything too ritualistic (if I do these decisions are made subconsciously). I'm just a go-with-the-flow kind of guy and I don't really do anything out of my way ritualistically to make myself feel better.
However I do remember when I was about 4 years old and stole pieces of dog food from my dog. I would place a single piece of this food into the red couch in my family room and wait a minute for the dog food to "cook" like it was in a microwave. I believed the couch imbued the food with special powers that made my life better. Then I would eat the dog food and go about my day. This ritual happened almost on a weekly basis and I don't know why. To this day I still know what that dog food tasted like.

Rituals/Good Luck

I do not consider any of my daily acts to be ritualistic but I do have a few constant behaviors that I connect good luck with. One odd behavior that was introduced to me by a friend a few years ago is whenever I drive through a yellow light, I tap the ceiling. This action is supposed to prevent me from getting pulled over, getting in an accident and even bring me good luck. I continue this action because nothing bad has happened in the past after doing it. Another good luck behavior I have is when I find a penny heads up on the ground I always pick it up and put it in my shoe, this action is also supposed to bring good luck. I conciously know these actions do not truly help bring good luck but I execute them because I always have.

Rituals

Well when asked if I have any rituals I take a strong look into my religious views because this is where many of these would show up.I do celebrate lent,but I do not give anything up like I used to be lcause my life is so hectic I often forget. On a day-to-day basis I have the ritual of checking my blood sugar.

I classify this as a ritual because I do it everyday and it is something that is close to me and a part of my lifestyle that I can live without. Other than this I really don't see any thing else being a ritual I have.

Rituals

I don't believe that there is anything i do in my life consistantly or ritualistically, aside from the everyday basic routine. However, i do have a certain security blanket that i often wrap myself in when feeling the need to escape. I often draw for pleasure in order to feel as though i'm actually accomplishing something. It's a great feeling to sit down with a blank piece of paper and a pen and create whatever i desire. Art is a way for me to escape from the noise and chaos that is everyday by centering myself around one object and having that object hold my complete attention for a period of time. When im drawing i don't need to talk, or listen. It isn't even really necessary to think. Being able to sit, relax, and rest the mind is a great thing, but when an end product results in such activity, it makes one feel even more at ease. I usually take between 30 minutes and 3 hours a day on my art, creating a portfolio to, hopefully, someday, frame and sell. The only consequence for my daily art time is the just that. It takes time, and i can often get so caught up in drawing that time goes by faster than expected, leaving little time left for homework or other things that should probably come first.

Rituals

There are a number of different rituals that I can remember having as a kid, but none of which seemed as important as some rituals I had on some of the teams I was on in high school. In hockey, we would all align ourselves in numerical order on the blue line for the national anthem. In soccer, we would listen to the same warm up c-d as we did our pare-game warm ups. We would huddle up on the field right before the game started to just get ourselves ready. These are just things that I have gotten to share with my friends and teammates over the years. It is a way to bond and come together as a team. We wouldn't have to question one another as to when we do this or that. Everyone was on the same page, and its a great feeling and experience to share with your friends.

Ritual

I don't really have any rituals that i do on a day to day basis. As a kid i did. I used to always wake up and sit on the floor and look at myself in the mirror and say " I am going to live my life to the fullest today". I'm not exactly sure how i started that, or how it ended, but it did. As of today i don't think i do anything special in my day, but it is all possible.