5 Rituals To Overcome Anxiety
Rituals for overcoming anxiety can act as authentic daily pain relievers. They are behavioral and cognitive shields that make it possible to control uncertainty through very simple actions. They indeed bring order and structure. They also bring mental calm, security and dampen that sense of anguish tinged with panic and indefinable pressure that so often grips us.
Some may be wary of the theme of rituals. Indeed, the word “ritual” traditionally has a magical connotation. It is associated with a series of incantations or spells intended to attract good luck, love or health. However, we often forget its true meaning. A ritual is an act that is repeated over and over again for a symbolic purpose. A ritual also has a rigid and well-defined structure.
The simple act of including something repetitive in our routine that gives order and a feeling of control is already good for our brain. We must not forget that anxiety feeds on uncertainty. It arises out of nothing, is unpredictable and takes away our control over ourselves. Therefore, this series of cognitive and behavioral rituals offers us a very interesting compensatory mechanism that deserves to be taken into account.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the subject.
Are Rituals for Overcoming Anxiety Really Helpful?
In the early 1920s, the famous anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was studying the population of the Trobriand Islands in the Pacific. Something caught his attention almost from the start. When a man was fishing in the river, he did not pretend he was fishing in the sea. Indeed, before embarking for the ocean, they performed a series of very complex rituals. Something they did not realize when they went fishing in the rivers.
The sea was dangerous, unpredictable and relentless most of the time. The rituals therefore allayed fear. They also gave them a sense of security, symbolic value and the promise that “everything would be fine”. Thus, in an interesting study published in the journal “Current Biology” dice showed the important psychological mark that could have this series of actions to manage daily fear, anxiety and above all, the act of facing what we can not control.
Rituals for overcoming anxiety are useful and have always existed in human history. There is, however, one fact that we cannot overlook . These ritualized movements aimed at providing the brain with a sense of order and security are not in themselves the solution to our problems. They provide a feeling of control, restore internal balance and regulate emotions. They are not, however, a universal cure for anxiety disorders which certainly require a more clinical approach.
Let’s look at some examples below.
Deep breathing before starting any activity
One of the most common rituals for overcoming anxiety is deep breathing. We need to establish “key” moments where we devote at least three minutes to this practice for it to be effective.
It is ideal to perform the deep breathing as soon as we get up, when we leave the house, when we start working, before each meal and before going to bed. We will also do it in activities that tend to generate stress and anxiety.
Ritual of movement
The ritual of movement serves to “stir and lift” the worries of the mind. To activate the body and remove resistance to tension knots. Therefore, there is nothing like choosing the physical activities that are most suitable for us and practicing them on a daily basis. We can run, perform high intensity exercise (HIIT) for 5 minutes during those exact times when we need it most, or even practice yoga.
Personal care ritual
Another great ritual for overcoming anxiety is self-care. Once a day and for one or two hours, we will devote quality time to ourselves and exclusively. We can cook a meal that we love, remain silent and do nothing, read, walk… This is a time of solitude, a time to heal.
Painting stones with colors to face fears and concerns
We’ve all heard of the cathartic power inherent in painting mandalas or other designs. Choose certain colors and indulge in this creative and relaxing exercise. This time we will go a little further. We will therefore choose a series of stones which, due to their characteristics, allow us to paint and draw on them.
Each stone will symbolize a concern, a fear. To overcome this anxiety, we will make a drawing there, something creative by which to put down this negative veil by painting it with more friendly colors . It is therefore a simple and enjoyable exercise.
Positive anchoring ritual
The ritual of positive anchoring can be very useful to us. It consists of two very specific phases. First of all, we will have to organize an experience which, by its characteristics, is positive and heartwarming. For example, a walk to the beach, a meeting with friends, a weekend getaway …
We need to be fully aware of the positive emotions felt when we are in the midst of this experience. The goal is to keep this feeling in our brain, as if it were a perfume. We will then choose an object present in this context. It can be sand or a shell if we are on the beach, a leaf if we are in the mountains, etc.
This chosen object will be “imbued” with these emotions and this moment of balance and happiness. It will therefore be our little daily talisman, this little treasure to carry in our pocket in the face of a stressful situation: an examination, an interview, a doctor’s appointment …
In conclusion, the most important rituals for overcoming anxiety are the ones that are meaningful to us. We have to create them based on our beliefs and personal characteristics. Their goal will therefore always be the same: to give us faith, to calm us down and to make us confident in a world of constant uncertainty.
Our thoughts It is important to know that there is pathological, or dysfunctional, anxiety and adaptive or considered “normal” anxiety. And …
