September 19 2016

As I talk about the use of rituals in helping us move on while seasons change and life changes, I think it is wonderful that science supports their many benefits. According to the research of Michael I. Norton and Francesca Gino of the Harvard Business School, rituals help people feel better and reduce grief, even for those who don’t believe in their effectiveness.  In one study they asked several hundred people to write about the emotions and thoughts at the time of a significant loss in their life.  These people were then divided into two groups, a ritual and a no-ritual group.  The ritual group wrote about a ritual they performed after the loss.  The study found that both groups experienced sadness during the experiment, however, those who wrote about the ritual reported significantly less sadness.  Rituals help.