Healing Thoughts: Rituals

Dear People,

I already written about traditions and if they are a bane or a blessing in your life, but today I'm writing about something connected to them, namely: rituals. The dictionary says a ritual is an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner. Spiritually speaking, a ritual is an act that we do to infuse meaning or to do something with more attention and awareness. So today I'm writing about what rituals can mean to us and how to design your own ritual.

Why work with rituals?

I talked about this in my Dutch Column about rituals, which will be online next week, but of course I will write it down again here too. Spiritually speaking, rituals help us energetically, to either manifest things we want or to release things we no longer need. It helps to truly end something or to make a fresh start. It helps to celebrate a success or grief a failure.

Rituals can be heavy but they can also be light. A simple morning ritual helps us feel energized and ready for our day. It could be just sitting down 5 minutes with a coffee. At the same time a wedding might feel as a heavy ritual, with getting everything the way you want it and the added stress that brings.

Rituals can also give a comfortable feeling. By repeating the steps of a ritual, we can find comfort in familiarity or feel connected to our community. I love personal rituals, but don't underestimate the power of doing a ritual with others.

Designing your own ritual

Step 1: Choose the meaning of your ritual. Do you want a ritual to promote peace or focus? Want to let go of something and move on? Give a blessing or promote growth? Think what your ritual needs to mean to you.

Step 2: Choose what symbols or actions fit your ritual. A plant for growing or a piece of artwork for creativity? A song for your focus or a cup of tea for contemplation? You can of course buy something specifically for your ritual, but items you already own can also be used.

Step 3: Choose how much time you want to invest and if you want to repeat your rituals regularly. So a daily 5 minute ritual or an hour long one time ritual of letting go. Repeated rituals should be easy to repeat, so don't make them too long or too involved.

Step 4: Implement your ritual. If it's a repeated one, don't hesitate to tweak it the first few times if you find it doesn't suit your needs.

These are the steps for personal rituals, but if you want to create one for a group, discuss together what works for all of you.

Want to share your rituals? Let me know your rituals in a comment on this blog, post on the Facebook Fan Page or talk to me in the practice.