Identifying Ceremonies

Before a ceremony begins, there’s usually a moment of knowing.
A pull that says: Something has to shift.

Sometimes that pull is easy to feel: a breakup, a diagnosis, a tough conversation.
But often, it’s subtler, it’s deeper. It hides inside our habits. Our language. The stories we keep repeating about who we are, what we deserve, or what we're capable of.

“This is just how I am.”
“I always mess this up.”
“They’ll never understand me.“
”I'm not ready.”
”What if they…what if I…?”

Sound familiar? They’re narratives we tell ourselves, patterns that, at one time, served us, but are no longer serving us.

Identifying a ceremony means recognizing the moment when that story cracks.
When the discomfort gets louder than the coping.
When you hear yourself say it, again, and wonder, What if that’s not true anymore?

It doesn’t need candles or circles or the jungle. It just needs your attention, for you to sit with it, for you to acknowledge it and give it space. Your willingness to notice the story you’re in, and question if it’s still serving you.

Because you can’t change a pattern you’re unwilling to name.
And you can’t realign your path until you admit where you’ve been walking in circles.

So:
Start listening for the phrases you repeat out loud or to yourself.
Notice what makes you flinch.
The moments you feel it in your body.
Track where you shrink.
That’s where the work is. That’s where the ceremony begins.

It’s okay not to have all the answers. Being open to change is enough to start.

You’ve already started.

-Richard