Relationships move and touch your soul like nothing else can, but the exquisite beauty and pain can be swept away in the current of everyday life. It therefore becomes vital to make the time to pay attention to this aspect of your life.

Children do it instinctively. They choose their favourite toy and then swap it with that of their best friend. This ritual marks the importance of the friendship between the two of them. It indicates trust and generosity. Not everyone would be able to share this treasured toy, only the special best friend.

The ritual of blood brothers sometimes takes place between older children. A pinprick to the thumb and then a merging of each others blood as they press their thumbs together marks the sacred bond they share. Children naturally understand that rituals honour the significance of a relationship. The ritual grants the friendship special or favoured status in their lives. As adults we would do well to follow the example of children and include the use of ritual to acknowledge the importance of relationships in our own lives.

One of the most significant forms of relationship for adults is the romantic love relationship. It can lead to a bonding where you form a partnership that lasts for years or even the rest of your life. It is a source of passion and joy, solace and support. On the other hand, these relationships can be a source of great distress and grief. Even when everything else is going well in your life, if your love relationship is having difficulties, it flavours everything else. Given that these relationships are so important, its beneficial to celebrate and honour this significance.

Life seems to go by so quickly with its thousand and one demands that can leave you exhausted as you try to balance work, family, health, leisure, social life and contribution to the community. Among all this activity it can be easy to ignore the significance of the changes and transformations that may be occurring in your relationship. Relationships move and touch your soul like nothing else can, but the exquisite beauty and pain can be swept away in the current of everyday life. It therefore becomes vital to make the time to pay attention to this aspect of your life. In doing so you enrich and deepen your experience of the relationship, you honour the stage you are going through, you affirm the transformations taking place and you celebrate and share this aspect of your lives with others.

Ending a relationship

The ending of a relationship is usually painful. It marks the end of possibilities, dreams and potentials that existed between the two people. It is healing to take the time to have a ritual that marks the end of a relationship. In doing so you can honour the significance of what you had, give time for the grief that is arising and then let go of the old and open to the new. This process is done over some time since a deep connection cannot be severed overnight. The final stage can be done on your own or witnessed by a trusted friend, or done with your ex-partner if you are on good terms.