Ritual: A Fresh Start

“Hey, I’d like to rewind and start again.” The purpose of this discussion is to introduce and explore the concept of a fresh start – the ritual of recognizing that things may not be going great so it’s time to reboot.

Sometimes we find ourselves in the middle of something that isn’t working the way we wanted it to. When that happens we can actually do something about it. It’s called a fresh start. A fresh start means that we acknowledge that we want to do something differently.

Imagine you came downstairs one morning and hurried into the kitchen, accidentally knocking the juice container onto the floor. You join your parents in the clean up – but they definitely seem a little irked. When the clean up is done … it is a perfect time to say, “Hey, I’d like to rewind and start again.” You then back out of the room and re-enter this time carefully noticing what is around you. It can be a fun way to say ‘Ooops.”

A fresh start can be even more important for bigger things. If you haven’t been trying really hard on your sports team – or if you are in the middle of a project and you see that it won’t ever work – you can commit to a change. “Look, Coach, I know I haven’t been doing my best so far. I am sorry. From this point on I will try harder.”

Have you ever had a conversation with a friend where you can see that they are misunderstanding what you are trying to say? Next time that happens you can say something like, “I think I got off to a bad start because I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Can we pretend I didn’t say it and let me try again from the beginning?

Fresh starts. Many religions help people get fresh starts with rituals and special holidays. Consider creating a unique family ‘sign’ for restart. Can we try that again, but this time ….?