This week, I’ve been reading Day Schildkret’s Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration, and Change because I love creating and participating in ceremonial rituals. We weave ritual and ceremony into much of our INCC teaching content because it’s such a lovely way to create a container for processing thoughts and emotions, being present with what is, leaning into our spirituality, and honoring the life-cycles we experience.
Coaches are quite often called upon to be witness to -- and hold space for -- our client’s times of transition. Nature Centered Coaches are trained to help clients navigate the physical, emotional, conscious, subconscious and spiritual aspects of their transitions.
Schildkret defines these times of transition as “threshold moments”…when we’re saying hello to a new identity and goodbye to the former. We all experience threshold moments throughout our lives. Whether we choose change, or change chooses us, life has indeed irrevocably changed.
As Schildkret says, “Now what can you do to mark this moment and find yourself again, to recognize this is no longer that?” He goes on to share, “They are times when we must practice a certain kind of alert discernment so that we can distinguish the difference between what was and what is now.”
This is the ebb and flow, the birth and death, the beginning and ending, the cyclical nature of all life. Rituals serve us best in how we navigate that, how we show up and be present with what is, and how we honor the transitions both great and small as part of our beautiful human experience.
One of the many things I love about rituals is the opportunity to deepen our relationship not only with ourselves and those we hold space for, but also with the components we bring into the ceremony to assist us. Some of my favorites include candles, water, earth, crystals, flowers, dried leaves, essential oils, feathers, and fruit. I give so much gratitude to these partners for the role they take in the ritual, for the healing energy they offer, where they come from (place and history), and the symbolism they represent. Each is a gift and each element I honor with reverence before, during and after incorporating them into the ritual. Gratitude, honor and respect are small yet important ways of developing a reciprocal relationship with nature.
What are the rituals you participate in as symbolic markers for your own life’s moments of transition? How have you navigated your “threshold moments?” Do you feel called to help others navigate theirs?
In a world that can feel chaotic and full of heartbreak, where do you find and remember the beauty? What practices do you engage in to return to your center, your true nature, and your wisdom?
There are many paths to return to your heart and self. Day Schildkret offers some with his books and Morning Altars trainings…and we offer some with our Nature Centered Coach training, which just so happens to include 2 Morning Altars classes.
I invite you to find those practices and rituals that serve you and allow them to take root and support you.