Many treasured memories center around rituals. Rituals help us identify who we are both as an individual, as a family, as a community, as a nation, as members of the human race; they provide something constant, stable, and secure in a confusing world; they help us make life cycle transitions; they help us celebrate and grieve together and they help us come together during times of crisis. Rituals also help to create an awareness of our connection with our ancestors and those who will follow after us.
Rituals are not always formal or religious. In a family, they can be simple acts of always eating one meal a day together, of remembering each other`s birthdays, of a couple always visiting the place they met on their anniversary, of friends having a coffee together once a month at their favourite cafe. These regular events make a statement that something is important: that togetherness in family matters, that the arrival into this world is worth celebrating, that partners met to share their life together is a blessed thing worthy of celebrating, that friendship needs to be nurtured by time spent together in a relaxed way. Rituals have psychological and spiritual purpose, even when they are not formal. They are expressions of our feelings for one another, manifestations into action of our deepest concerns, ways of fulfilling needs that cannot be met any other way.
Rituals marking significant life cycle transitions are important not only for acknowledging what is taking place, but helps the individual focus on the tasks associated with the transition. Ritual also helps everyone impacted by the transition negotiate the accompanying life changes and integrate the emotional, psychological and spiritual impact.
Rituals are not always formal or religious. In a family, they can be simple acts of always eating one meal a day together, of remembering each other`s birthdays, of a couple always visiting the place they met on their anniversary, of friends having a coffee together once a month at their favourite cafe. These regular events make a statement that something is important: that togetherness in family matters, that the arrival into this world is worth celebrating, that partners met to share their life together is a blessed thing worthy of celebrating, that friendship needs to be nurtured by time spent together in a relaxed way. Rituals have psychological and spiritual purpose, even when they are not formal. They are expressions of our feelings for one another, manifestations into action of our deepest concerns, ways of fulfilling needs that cannot be met any other way.
Rituals marking significant life cycle transitions are important not only for acknowledging what is taking place, but helps the individual focus on the tasks associated with the transition. Ritual also helps everyone impacted by the transition negotiate the accompanying life changes and integrate the emotional, psychological and spiritual impact.
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