The Joy Of Family Rituals

FAMILIES PERFORM RITUALS each day without knowing it. Celebrating birthdays, eating a meal together, taking daily walks to the park, making French toast on Sunday mornings, donating to the homeless during the holidays; all are examples of the rituals families use to become closer and strengthen their bond. The Joy of Family Rituals is a recipe book for families who wish to enrich their lives with rituals by reflecting on their significance and making them a part of daily life. Rituals can help a family communicate, foster spiritual connections, and provide a secure foundation for growth. The Joy of Family Rituals makes it easy to incorporate rituals into family life. Barbara Biziou explains the meaning and history of each ritual, many of which date back to our ancestors, and gives advice on purpose, timing, ingredients and follow-up. Biziou encourages readers to adjust the rituals and introduce their own traditions to suit the family's needs. Finally, each ritual contains a true-life story of how it has affected a family, providing a template for ways in which your family's life might also be enriched and strengthened. "Consciously creating rituals can work miracles in our lives. The Joy of Ritual tells you exactly how to get started."-Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom "The Joy of Ritual is a road map to celebrating life. This book will be a great companion on your journey to attaining clarity, balance, and calmness amid the chaos of life."-Donna Karan BARBARA BIZIOU is an internationally acclaimed teacher of practical spirituality and global rituals. She is a life coach, voice dialogue facilitator, interfaith minister, and motivational speaker. She has lectured and taught around the world. She currently resides in New York managing her company, Blue Lotus Productions.

When a special activity evolves into a tradition within a family, it creates meaning, connection, and community and makes common occasions more momentous and memorable. Establishing a sense of stability and shared history has never been more important to parents than it is today, as families become more fractured and scattered. THE JOY OF FAMILY TRADITIONS offers more than 400 fresh ideas and creative approaches to cultivating birthday, anniversary, holiday, and other rite-of-passage and seasonal traditions that strengthen personal bonds and reflect a family's individual style, spirituality, and values. Inspires and instructs families on how to create, personalize, adapt, and preserve relevant traditions that reflect how we live today. Explores the historical, cultural, and often quirky origins of holidays, customs, and milestones, both uncommon and familiar. Includes holidays, holy days, annual events, once-in-a-lifetime occasions, and personal celebrations. Reviews"A lovely new book that pays tribute to hundreds of celebrations from around the world and offers new ideas for marking important occasions."—Pregnancy Magazin "Be inspired to preserve, personalize and create meaningful holiday and year round traditions with the more than 400 multi-cultural activities found in The Joy of Family Traditions."—Senior Wire News Service "...read The Joy of Family Traditions by Jennifer Trainer Thompson, so you can celebrate the holidays even better than you celebrate them now."—Washington Post Recommended in Q&A Column"If you love family traditions, you will take pleasure in The Joy of Family Traditions by Jennifer Trainer Thompson."-Tom McMahon's syndicated "Kid Tips" Column appears in 62 newspapers nationwideFeatured in two wedding themed pieces on 5/1/08 and 5/8/08.-Content That Works

Ritual is a universal language that gives substance and meaning to our lives. People are eager to honor the significant moments in their lives and Barbara Biziou, one of America's foremost ritual experts, teaches us how to restore ritual to its rightful place as food for the soul through practical, easy-to-use ritual recipes that are inspiring and fun. Rituals can enhance daily routines, enrich milestones, and guide us through difficult transitions. Whether you're releasing fear, bringing deeper meaning to a family or community gathering, or celebrating an important event, THE JOY OF RITUAL is like a wise best friend that reconnects us to our hearts and souls.

A season-by-season journey through the year that presents ideas for family-oriented holidays, holy days, milestone events, curious customs, and once-in-a-lifetime occasions.

Offers instructions or "recipes" for creating new family rituals or traditions, in categories such as "holidays," "family festivities and ceremonies," and "rites of passage."

Rituals is a universal language that gives substance and meaning our lives. People are eager to honor the significant moments in their lives and Barbara Biziou, America's foremost ritual expert, teaches us how to restore ritual to its rightful place as food for the soul through practical, easy-to-use ritual recipes that are inspiring and fun. Ritual can enhance daily routines, enrich milestones, and guide us through difficult transitions. Whether you're releasing fear, bringing deeper meaning to a family or community gathering, or celebrating an important event, The Joys of Everyday Ritual is like a wise best friend that reconnects us to our hearts and souls.

Ritual is a universal language that gives substance and meaning to our lives. People are eager to honor the significant moments in their lives and Barbara Biziou, one of America's foremost ritual experts, teaches us how to restore ritual to its rightful place as food for the soul through practical, easy-to-use ritual recipes that are inspiring and fun. Rituals can enhance daily routines, enrich milestones, and guide us through difficult transitions. Whether you're releasing fear, bringing deeper meaning to a family or community gathering, or celebrating an important event, THE JOY OF RITUAL is like a wise best friend that reconnects us to our hearts and souls.

This simple book helps families appreciate their dignity as "home churches" by showing them how to create rituals unique to their needs. It also helps churches meaningfully connect these home rituals into the larger community. Almost 40 ready-to-use rituals are included covering a wide variety of life events.