Gratitude And Rituals
- A feeling of profound gratitude towards whatever good one’s life has to offer, however small, contributes towards people finding meaning in their transition.
- Rituals provide the space and the ‘container’ by which a demarcation is created, and the outside world is not hindering, creating a safe zone to get healed.
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They are the transitions and moments of disruption that offer unique opportunities for insight and wisdom.
The constant handling of big and small obstacles and setbacks, ironically, is what provides meaning to our lives. It is almost as if a Gateway or threshold has to be crossed, signifying the commitment of the journey from the ‘Hero’ who is able to successfully complete the ‘test of life’.
Life transitions are the interesting chapters of our internal autobiographies, that provide us with the opportunity, tools and the reason to transform ourselves for the better.
We need to take small steps, or ‘microsteps’ to accept these transition moments, visualize and plan out the change, shed our old ways, unveil our transformation and the resulting new self, and to storify the entire transition.
Sharing our transition, transformation and the obstacles we were able to overcome is a crucial step that heals.
A study in 1986 that persuaded people to write about their traumatic experiences revealed that many started crying during the writing process, but it worked like a catharsis, and led to their understanding themselves better and eventually getting healed.
- Happiness is not something permanent or even graspable. It is a temporary, fleeting phenomenon, focused on the present.
- Finding meaning is like stitching together the past, present and future and knitting a coherent narrative, a story that makes the journey of life a worthwhile endeavour.
- The true meaning of life is when it gets uprooted in the pursuit of something sacred and transcendental or some higher calling.
RELATED IDEAS
When we don't resist challenging transitions, we learn how to cope with subsequent life changes. We gain a sense of meaning that makes the rest of life seem more stable.
Those who benefit and learn the most from them are those who accept them and lean into them.
- The sound around us, from an auditory perspective, is simplified. It's not quiet, but the sound of water is far more simple than the sound of voices or the sound of music or the sound of a city.
- The visual input is simplified. When you stand at the edge of the water and look out on the horizon, it's visually simplified relative to a city you're walking through, where you're taking in millions of pieces of information every second.
- The pleasant life: you fill your life with as many pleasures as you can. This has hardly any contribution to lasting fulfilment.
- The life of engagement, where you find a life in your work, parenting, love and leisure.
- The meaningful life: knowing what your highest strengths are, and using them to belong to and in the service of something larger than you.