Anxiety control rituals can act as true tranquilizers on a day-to-day basis, are behavioral and cognitive shields with which we can control the effects of uncertainty with very simple actions, bring order, structure, calm to the mind, safety and dampen the feeling of anguish tainted with panic and overwhelming pressure that so often terrifies us: anxiety.
The theme of rituals can lead to mistrust in some people. Traditionally, the word ritual has an esoteric connotation and is associated with a series of magic or spells with which it is thought that it is possible to bring fortune, love or even health. they often forget their true meaning. A ritual is an act that is repeated over and over again for a symbolic purpose, has a rigid and well-defined structure, but does not have to be esoteric.
- Anxiety control rituals allow us to include in our daily lives a guided sequence of repetitive movements that make the brain believe that it is experiencing a pleasant state of predictability and stability.
Simply including something repeated in our routine, giving order and sense of control, is already beneficial to our brain, we must not forget that anxiety itself feeds on uncertainty, which arises from nothingness and unpredictable, so it takes away any control that we have. Therefore, this series of cognitive and behavioral rituals offers us a very interesting and valuable compensatory mechanism.
Let’s go a little further on this issue
In the early 1920s, well-known anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was studying the population of the Trobriand Islands in the Pacific Ocean, something has happened that has caught your attention almost from the beginning: when a man fished in the river, he fished differently from it. He fished at sea. Before embarking on the ocean, he performed a series of very complex rituals, which did not happen when he made an expedition through the rivers of the islands.
The sea was dangerous, unpredictable and relentless most of the time, the rituals calmed the fear and brought a sense of security, symbolic value and the promise that “everything would be all right”. In this sense, in an interesting study published in the current journal Biology today, he demonstrated the great psychological importance that this series of acts could have in the management of fear in daily life, anxiety and, above all, the behavior to which we can control.
Anxiety control rituals are useful and have always been since the beginning of human history, now there is a fact that we cannot forget, these ritualized movements that aim to give a sense of order and security to the brain are not, in themselves, the solutions to our problems, offer a sense of control, restore internal balance and regulate emotions , however, they are not a universal remedy for anxiety disorders that certainly require clinical follow-up.
Let’s look at some examples
Deep breathing is one of the most common rituals to overcome anxiety, to achieve this effect it is necessary to establish key moments in which we spend at least three minutes practicing breathing.
Ideally, we take a deep breath before, for example, getting up, leaving home, starting work, before each meal and before bedtime, we can also use the technique before activities that we usually know and that bring us anxiety and stress.
The ritual of movement serves to awaken the mind and free ourselves from worries, to activate the body and undo the resistance of our knots full of tension, so nothing better than choosing the physical activities that we like to do every day. We can go for a run, do high intensity exercises for 5 minutes at specific times when we need more calm, or even practice yoga.
Self-care is another ritual to overcome anxiety. Once a day or for an hour or two, we can dedicate ourselves and take the time to spend a quality moment with ourselves, exclusively with ourselves. Can we cook a meal we love, shut up without doing something, reading, walking? It is a moment of loneliness, a moment of healing.
We have all heard how cathartic it is to color mandalas or drawings, choose some colors and let us immerse ourselves in this playful, creative and relaxing exercise, in addition, we can also go a little further, another option that we will give is to choose a series of stones or shells that, by their characteristics, can be painted and contain designs.
Each stone will symbolize a concern, a fear. To overcome this anguish, we will create upon them a drawing, something creative that overrides the negative vision, so that we use more loving colors to look at the feeling. It is a simple and very enjoyable exercise.
The safe harbor ritual can be very useful and consists of two phases. In a first phase, we must organize an experience that, by its characteristics, is positive and comforting, for example, a walk on the beach, a walk with friends, a weekend?
When we are in the midst of this experience, we must be fully aware of the positive emotions we will feel, the goal is to maintain this feeling in our brain as if it were a perfume, then we will choose an object that is present. in the context: a little sand, or a shell if we are on the beach, a leaf if we are in the mountain or a pineapple, etc.
Now we will have this chosen object, in which emotions and this moment of balance and happiness will be permeated. Will it be our little everyday talisman, a little treasure that we will take in our pockets in the face of a stressful situation: an examination, an interview, a medical examination?
In conclusion, the most important ritual for controlling anxiety is that they are meaningful and make sense to us, we must create them based on our personal beliefs and characteristics, your goal will always be the same: to bring faith, bring calmness and a sense of security in a world of constant uncertainty.