Thilo Jenssen. Restless Legs

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The ‘If-then’ logic provides a structure for all rituals – this, together with fixed rules that we follow as if on autopilot. Intensity and duration is not crucial here, regardless of whether it’s mystical full-moon dancing or an early-morning cup of coffee. We allow ourselves to be controlled and often like to follow the rhythmic sequence. Devout participation helps your ideas drift, while bringing feelings into a predictable context. The ritual as the DNA plan of our identity and an all-purpose weapon against daily madness. So head off, hold me tight and bring me home in one piece!

Even creative or artistic production finds orientation in rituals. Daily reading sessions, working through e-mails, the choreography of opening visits, escalation and withdrawal. And beforehand the constant laboring towards dead lines, often even towards several at the same time. Belligerent, warrior-like vocabulary that we systematically run through and see ourselves time and again confronted with the same thoughts if we are reluctant to cross the line.

Waiting until we are in the right mood to perform tasks. No idea what a beginning might look like. Experience shows we work best under pressure so we defer everything for later. Extreme postponement is a work-related disorder found especially in people who work autonomously and can only complete tasks under enormous time pressure. Welcome to the Prokrasti Nation.

Perhaps the ritual of procrastination, too, can be understood more in the sense of mental waiting. A privileged moment of tranquility that we deliberately recharge our batteries, yielding more to the lust of listlessness.

Lena Katharina Reuter