Can scary movies help you live a better life?

With Halloween coming up, my wife and I have started increasing our scary movie consumption quite a bit. Many of the themes these movies have revolves around dark, demonic/satanic rituals used to further the goals of the evil underbelly of the world. At the same time as we have increased our scary movie intake I have also been looking at the idea of rituals in my own daily life and how they can be utilized in a practical manner to help me live a more intentional and present life.

Rituals and ceremonies have classically been reserved for moments outside of daily life. When you think of the word “ritual” you probably imagine something like dark robed people standing around an altar with a weird curved knife… Or maybe some tie-dye wearing nature lovers sitting cross legged around some burning incense. But what can we learn from these ideas around rituals in order to enhance our own lives (without sacrificing any goats and still wearing deodorant)?

This idea of having rituals in our daily life made me do a little research into the actual definition of ritual. And what I found surprised me a little bit. I realized that most of us probably do something very similar to a ritual already and we don’t even realize it. So check it out. Ritual is defined as: A formal ceremony or series of acts that is always performed in the same way. Now I bet you could think about a couple of routines you do throughout your day that fall under the category of “a series of acts that is always performed in the same way.” Another word for this in our daily lives might be “routines”. Do you have a bedtime routine? Do you have a morning routine? We unknowingly probably have a few routines already that we do almost every day. And we do them unconsciously as we move through our daily lives. So what if we could add a little bit more formality to those routines? What if we used those routines as a way to be more present in our own lives. If we added a little bit of formality, and intention to our routines and habits could we improve our lives?

What even makes a routine or habit different from a ritual? Well, routines are regular actions you take that aren’t imbued with meaning or purpose or ceremony. Rituals are actions you take that are. So taking your habits and routines and tweaking them by adding meaning and purpose is an incredibly easy and powerful way to bring back some purpose and appreciation into your life.

Let’s take a practical example, your bedtime routine. What purpose and ceremony could you imbue into this? Does it even make sense? Well, think about what you are doing. Most bedtime routines involve cleaning, refreshing, and taking care of your body to be able to look and function your best the next day. You wash your face, you brush your teeth, maybe take a shower. You clean your body of the day’s work and prepare yourself to sleep and recover for the next day. So tonight you could try a simple exercise while you are preparing for bed. As you take each action, thank your body for all the hard work it has done for you today as you prepare it for it’s nightly rest. As you brush your teeth, thank your mouth for the thousands of words it has spoken. For the nutritious food it has helped you consume. For the breath that it has let enter your body. As you wash your face and body, thank it for allowing you to interact with the world, move you through the day, and let you live your life.

These small things can help you appreciate your life in a deeper way. Try this out and see if it doesn’t give you a deeper sense of appreciation for your life and how you are able to live it. It’s a small change that will help you appreciate more things throughout the day. Elevate your mood and appreciate living life.

If you are interested in other ways you can enhance your life, and live to the fullest let’s talk! I can’t wait to help you finally live the life you were meant to enjoy!