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.