When we are in painfully difficult or confusing life situations, especially amidst ever-uncertain times, our minds grapple for structure: a funeral ceremony definitively lays the dead to rest; the exaggerated choreography of a surgical room confirms its sterility; and a daily schedule gives prisoners a sense of normalcy. These practices, these rituals, give us peace. Though it might seem contradictory, ordered rituals actually bring us freedom, creativity, and mental well-being. Rituals aren’t a thing of history or belonging to elaborate ceremonies, and they aren’t even confined to the most painful or confusing of times. Rituals can be at a family dinner table or in a morning bathroom routine. In Everyday Rituals, Pearl Katz shows us just how transformative rituals are, no matter what kind.

Unlike other titles on the subject in the self-help genre or in anthropological reportage, Katz applies her years of fieldwork and psychiatric study to tangible, everyday American life. She writes a thoroughly persuasive argument, using poignant case studies, to truly inspire readers. Specific hormones flow and brain paths open when artists follow their creative regimen, and mental health increases in patients under hospital directive; in contrast, young people suffer stress in unbounded undergraduate hookup culture. And after the coronavirus ripped many rituals from American life, the ill effects of a life without routine burn bright. It’s in the ordinary that Katz discovers unlimited potential: mundane routine actually sparks incredible imagination. With scientific evidence, case studies, personal narrative, and guiding wisdom, Katz enlightens us as to how and why we can feel true freedom.