In 2024, I got a book for Christmas that I’d heard a decent bit about – Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This book details a “for the layman” interpretation of many different studies that were done regarding the ideas surrounding meaning, optimal performance, and true happiness. In it, I remember coming across something that caught my attention regarding the deliberate application of attention of energy toward “esoteric ritual” to “impose order in consciousness through the performance of patterned action”.

One of the examples details Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, a famous German physicist that turned many mind-numbing conference lectures into more bearable experiences by inventing a game to play by tapping his fingers in a specific pattern, counting the increments in each pass. He got so good at this game that he was actually able to use this as a passive method for tracking how much time had elapsed.

I can’t find the exact mentioning, but I also remember reading that some famous scientist had a ritual where they would take a morning walk and take off their hat to allow “creative ideas to soak in” or something of the sort.

Nonetheless, the purpose of bringing these things up is to show that there are a lot of people out there with “strange habits” that give a sort of new light to things. Some people add to their current purpose by enacting these small rituals, and some people give purpose through these actions. While a lot of supernatural meaning that was bestowed through cultural ritual has been lost due to recent history, I strongly believe that rituals hold a vital component to maintaining overall happiness. By intentionally giving meaning or challenge to experiences, we can exaggerate the positive perception of them - which is exactly what rituals aid in doing.

My Own Ritual

So the sentiment got me thinking, maybe that’s something that I could do – create my own little creative ritual to follow. But what?

And you know. I wish I had a good story as to how I came up with the idea, but I really don’t remember how or why it came to me, but I remember visiting a thrift store and seeing a tie, and a single thought light up:

That’s a writing tie.

Some form of intuition struck me in that moment and I had to do something with it. So I bought the tie. I went home, sat down with and thought. I needed rules.

1. Ties should be worn while performing a specific activity, nothing else.
2. Do not use the same tie for a different activity. Get new ties for new activities.
3. Distractions degrade the spirit of the tie, so minimize distractions.

And thus, my strange creative ritual was born. Since then, my collection of ties have expanded from just a writing tie to: thinking, programming, music making, and painting (Though I think the painting tie will remain unused for a while).

Strangely enough this habit has drastically improved my focus when I follow it. I’ll wear a tie loosely around my neck, and sometimes I’ll catch myself checking my phone or some kind of distraction, and I’ll remind myself: “You’re degrading the spirit of the tie. Get back to work.”And it works. Somehow it works.

It’s nice in a sense too, as I’ve never had a physical extension of myself manifest into my workspace quite like this before. I can see my creative soul hanging next to my whiteboard or my piano. It’s something that I took a lot of comfort in, as it’s not very often that I get to see myself put forth into the world.

Finding Your Ritual

So maybe you want your own little ritual to enhance some kind of experience? I admit, my process for discovery wasn’t very straight forward. It involved a lot of leaning into my own intuition to discover what it should be.

Perhaps it’s making a particular kind of tea for a particular kind of activity. Maybe using a certain color of light for certain portions of a process. Or doing things in a certain area of the house at certain times. Or a particular pose that you assume during the activity. Regardless, I feel that if a ritual is adopted, it should be one that feels a bit silly, but still natural to you.

Ultimately, a ritual is just a strange, patterened, and continous decision. It is meant to create a tiny amount of challenge or novelty in something rather ordinary, and give a gentle (or sometimes grand) sense that the experience is yours to take. That, I feel, is the real purpose of performing rituals in general – to give the sense that you are a part of something greater than yourself by becoming a conduit to experience.

So do odd things. It’s you.