Relationship Rituals That Can Bring You Closer to Your Love
By Susie and Otto Collins

Are you looking for creative and meaningful ways to enhance the connection and passion between yourself and your love? Perhaps you've been together for many years or only a few weeks. Either way, you can use relationship rituals to move closer to your partner and point your relationship in a direction you desire.

We all take part in rituals from time to time. These might be more formal or complicated such as participate in the baptism of a child or the bar mitzvah of a Jewish boy. Other rituals are probably given less thought like the act of standing and singing the national anthem before a baseball game.

Still other rituals are so casual that you might not consider them to be rituals at all. For example, a group of friends gather together each year to watch the Superbowl football game together. The way in which the people come together, carry out certain roles and share in the festivities can actually be considered a
ritual.

A ritual doesn't have to be religious or even spiritual in nature. While the primary definition of the word "ritual" does pertain to a religious act, additional descriptions of the word include the notion of a ceremony or a series of acts that are repeatedly followed. We'd like to hone in on the ceremonial aspect of the word here. When you make a relationship ritual, you are creating symbolic actions or words that can be transformative to your connection.

Sue would like to feel closer to her partner Jon. While they both try to make regular time to be alone together, it always seems like a crisis at one of their workplaces or an issue with a member of their family gets in the way.  Although Sue knows that Jon loves her dearly, she want to re-ignite the sparks and passion that they once shared.  She's talked about this with Jon and he is open to the idea- - he just doesn't know when they'll fit passion in.

When Sue and Jon get a chance, they plan a long weekend away together. Sue proposes that they share some relationship rituals on their get-away. Here are a few rituals that they shared.....

*The Completions Ritual
Sue knows that in the midst of their busy lives, there have been plenty of times that disagreements between the two of them simply haven't been resolved. For example, Jon admits to Sue that he still feels resentful that she chose to attend a party at her workplace rather than go to the championship match for the soccer league that he plays on.  Deep down, Jon felt hurt and unsupported even though he also understood Sue's reasons for making the choice she did.

Sue realizes that there are hurt feelings that she is also holding onto that are connected to past events. They talk about what needs to about the situations until they both feel a sense of resolution.

Since Sue and Jon are staying near a forest while on their weekend getaway, they go on a hike for their completions ritual. They decide to stand on the top of a cliff along the trail and shout out how they are feeling and then symbolically let go of those emotions. In essence, they decide to give over to the rocks and trees their old resentments allowing the wind to carry them away.

*The En-visioning Ritual
Manifesting what you want is a powerful practice. You can en-vision the kind of relationship you want to have with your partner and incorporate manifestation. Write down on pieces of paper or speak aloud the vision you have for the love and connection you want with your mate. Phrase your words only in the affirmative.

For example, you might declare that you two create regular and uninterrupted time together or you might decide that you want to make love more often. Whatever it is, state your vision in positive ways and as if you already have it.

Get creative and be specific. Now, put some aspect of your vision into action. You and your partner might draw a symbol or picture of what your vision is. It could be as simple as using a stick to draw a heart in the sand or dirt. Whatever action you do to enact your manifestation, really focus your attention on that symbol and feel the love that you share.

*The Vow Ritual
If you are married or have ever been married, you and your partner might have spoken vows on your wedding day.  Depending on your experience, you might feel positively about these vows or you might not. Either way, you can re- think the concept of vow as you create this type of relationship ritual.

Think about making agreements that will help you and your partner move closer to the vision that you both have for your relationship. These agreements, or vows, don't have to be "'til death do us part." Instead, they can be promises that you make to one another.

One promise might be to stay open to making changes in your agreements as
circumstances might change in your life. Another promise might be to only agree to what feels good to you and is something you believe you can follow through on.

Jon and Sue make a vow to one another that they will start making their relationship a priority. No matter how busy they are, they both promise that they will make regular time to be together-- at least once a week-- and really be
focused in on one another during those times.

After gathering flowers and pretty stones, Jon and Sue place them upon an old tree stump in the woods where they are staying. They speak their agreements to each other, hold hands and kiss.

You can make your relationship rituals as formal or casual as you like. The whole idea is to infuse a sense of symbolism and specialness into the sharing. This can
assist you in making completions, creating agreements or speaking your vision for the future more powerfully. The rituals themselves can also be a means to connect and move closer to your love.
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