For those of you living in difficult circumstances… divorce, loss, job transition, holiday blues… I found this quote and thought it might be helpful. These are the words of Joan Halifax Rosh, from her book Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death
“Catastrophe is the essence of the spiritual path, a series of breakdowns allowing us to discover the threads that weave all of life into a whole cloth.”
Celebrant Michele
Heads Up!
CBC Radio will be airing a documentary about one of my recent ceremonies. The piece is called: Donna’s June Divorce. The specific program is called Tapestry… with the piece scheduled to air Sunday, October 25th at 3 pm.
It includes highly regarded CBC reporter Pamela Post’s interview with me about my pioneering of Marriage Dissolution (aka Divorce) Ceremonies here in BC. And a more extended interview with Donna, the brave woman for whom I wrote this beautiful and incredibly moving ceremony.
Hers is a story of sadness yes, but mostly it is one of inspiration. The ceremony I created for Donna focuses her stepping forward into the next chapter of her life with hope and intention, while acknowledging the pain of the divorce as well as the good of her marriage.
You’ll hear how transformative the event was for Donna, and also for the friends who attended (most of whom were somewhat dubious to begin with!)
The ceremony was taped when it was performed and will be aired along with the interviews — so you can hear for yourself the many touching, funny, and poignant moments (and hear me in action if you haven’t had that opportunity!)
The producer believes people across Canada will be moved. After all, who among us don’t know anyone touched by divorce? Indeed many of you have had a personal experience.
And so, I do hope you will listen as it airs… or you can log on to CBC Tapestry’s website afterwards to listen to the program at your convenience. Here are the specs:
* Tapestry: Sunday OCTOBER 25th @ 3 pm – 88.1 FM and 690 AM
* If you miss the program when it airs, you can listen via the archive of past shows which can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/archives.html
May I ask that you pass this on to friends and family who may be interested?
It’s my hope that this program reaches out and inspires the thousands of Canadians struggling to find meaning and hope in the face of divorce.
Warm regards,
Michele
Celebrant Michele Davidson
Meaningful Ceremonies for Birth, Marriage, and Death
here’s a piece I wrote for a women’s journal recently. Let me know if anything in it hit home for you!
Tap into the power of your life transitions
Life is a journey. Most of us say it, and nearly all of us believe it! So why then are we so darned focused the next big step that we don’t honour where we actually are along the path? As women, we experience many emotional and physical changes during the course of our lives. These are our rites of passage. They’re huge, important, and very often – ignored or trivialized. (Ever been to a bridal shower where the bride-to-be walked around wearing a paper-plate hat with streamers on it?) Someone explain to me how that prepares a woman figure out what ‘wife’ means!
We talk about intention a lot, don’t we? We have intention to make things happen in our businesses and to bring happiness into our lives.
How about bringing intention to how we move through our profound life experiences? Things like marriage, career changes, becoming a mother, career changes, medical diagnosis, the death of our parents, divorce? These are some of the signposts of a lived life. And these are the experiences that hold the most potential to transform us. And yet, many people today lack the tools to face their milestones, be they of joy or sorrow. It certainly doesn’t help that we live in a society that when the going gets tough frequently tells us ‘get over it’ ‘let it go’ ‘move on’.
I learned something valuable about this in recent years. In less than ten months I got engaged and married, underwent major surgery, and unraveled because of the heartbreaking suicide of my dearest friend. And I came to see that passing by even just one signpost without truly understanding what it means, is a way of dismissing myself.
So how do we bring in intention? Ritual and ceremony help by providing conscious, symbolic ways to honour our transitions. Taking the time to reflect upon and acknowledge the significant events of your life says something powerful about you. It says, “I value myself. This is who I am.” And discovering your own personal rituals and traditions will enrich your life by providing a sense of identity, comfort, and an understanding of the continuity of life.
We sometimes forget that, by our very nature, women are courageous. You know that to be a successful entrepreneur you must tap into your incredible strength, wisdom and resilience. Why not put the same energy into embracing the turning points of your life?
Here are some ideas to get you started.
And most of all, never forget that you are the heroine of your own journey!
Celebrant Michele Davidson, Spring 2009
