Hello Again

I have been fascinated ... feeling the velvet of a mossy rock beneath my fingers.

Hello again.

It’s been a long time since I have blogged. I could say it’s because so many complicated things have happened. And while that’s true – weddings and deaths, among them – that would not be the reason.

I haven’t been writing because I have been doing a lot of introspection. I gave myself a project in January and have been focusing on it. What is this inner topic? I wanted to become more in touch with my personal spirituality.

I have always been a spiritual person who has also had a complicated relationship with formal religion. And when I say complicated that is not some code for “I hate traditional faiths.” I absolutely do not. I have warmth and respect for the faith communities I have been part of. But ultimately, we were a bad fit.

Part of it is that I have a hard time with absolute truths and hard-and-fast rules about higher powers. My concept of what other people call God is VERY unconventional. And I am sure I will write about that someday. So, during 2024, I have been considering all the usual “big” subjects that have a connection with spirituality and faith – truth, eternity, death, love.

In addition to delving into this, I also wanted to live my spirituality on a smaller, more intimate scale. So, I have been appreciating wonders near at hand. I have been fascinated watching the two wild rabbits that live in my yard, reading the poems by Mary Oliver, smelling freshly crushed cardamom pods, or feeling the velvet of a mossy rock beneath my fingers. It took much of my life to realize that the divine was not only to be found in an ancient text or at the top of a lonely mountain. It could be at the supermarket, a library, or right outside my window.

I have had some wonderful experiences and personally meaningful insights. I have begun to understand clearly what is sacred to me and how to embody and live them day to day.

It was that understanding – that we all have access to the most magical and meaningful sanctity – that made my fingers start itching again for my keyboard.

There are insights and actions that I want to share with you. Don’t start slowly backing away. I am NEVER going to tell you how to find God or what the ultimate truth is. One of the realizations I have had is that so much of the world is in crisis precisely because one person wanted to tell another person – or a whole country – that their way of finding God, their way of seeing ultimate truth is the only way.

We see where that has gotten us.

Years ago in therapy, I was deeply depressed about my feelings about religion. My therapist asked me if I could create a religion what would it be? I told her I would never create one, I would want every person to create their own. I was joking at the time, but now I’m kind of serious.

I don’t want or expect everyone to wholesale leave their faith communities, though plenty of people have already done that. No, I am hoping more people take the time to look inside themselves and find their own sacred things and create their own rituals, meditations and holidays. These can be completely in line with a traditional faith. It can add to and enhance their experience and expression of them.

And for those of us who are DIY-ing it, well, we have the chance to let our spiritual imaginations soar. I’m not talking about selling all your belongings and moving to a commune. I’m not talking about trying to jam-pack your every moment with esoteric rituals.

I want to give people practical ideas about laying down their own paths to the sacred. I want to help people look inside themselves and find what they want to celebrate and how they can do that.

These could involve the daily, homely things like bringing a few sacred moments to cooking meals, waking up in the morning, or feeling gratitude.

Perhaps it’s something a little bigger. Maybe you want to create meaningful wedding vows or personal meditations but don’t know how to start. Maybe you want your cool aunt to officiate at your wedding, but none of you know how to do that. Maybe someone dear to you died during Covid without a funeral and now you want to mark and celebrate their life – but how?

If you are curious about how to bring to life your personal spirituality, I am ready to help you. If you want to create a big or little ritual or ceremony, I am here to make that happen with you, through coaching and writing.

Sacred celebrations should excite us. They should forge deep connections between us and ourselves, others, and the world.

Celebrationism, which is what I call all this, is not a dogmatic movement full of rules and regs. It’s an invitation to discover the sacred inside yourself and let it be your joyful, daily companion.

If that sounds good to you keep reading my stuff, here at Celebrationism.net, and follow me on Instagram at celebrationism_every_day.

Thank you.