Rituals bring people together at a time of tumultuous change (wedding, baby, retirement, death) to bear witness to this change and to begin the new steps in a new direction of life which helps make that journey easier.
Rituals:
- Reviewing photos and old letters
- Lighting candles
- Creating a collage of your life together
- Mementos—giving some away or choosing some for yourself
- Planting a tree or bush
- Donating a park bench
- Getting involved in a cause (related to the person in some way)
- Moving wedding rings to other hand, or redesigning them
- Creating an annual activity/event in honour/memory of loved one (fishing derby, golf, movie watching, dinner at a certain restaurant, attend a concert etc.)
- Creating a scholarship in the loved one’s name
- Creating a quilt or pillow out of treasured fabric
- Collecting stories about the loved one from friends
- Sweat lodge
- Using helium balloons, doves in the ceremony
- Wake, celebration of life, funeral service
- Sending flowers or donations
- Wearing the clothing or jewelry of the loved one
- Visiting the cemetery or where ashes were scattered
Joy shared is joy doubled… grief shared is grief halved.
