One of the Best gifts I ever gave was a “Celebration Tribute Book” by Sherry Richert Belul.
“In the midst of everyday life, it’s easy to forget how extraordinary — and fleeting— our lives are. So I help people celebrate who they are, the people they love, and the shape of their lives — even when none of them look anything like we’d imagined. My company, Simply Celebrate, offers one-of-a-kind Celebration Tribute Books + other great gift ideas, as well as programs and practices to help celebrate everyday life.”
I gave one of these books to my husband for his birthday, and he said it was the greatest gift he had ever received in his life. It was a powerful confirmation of his humanity and the feeling I got from giving it to him is indescribable.
As I have talked about in previous posts, I love Random Acts of Kindness, paying-it-forward and living my life in gratitude. I remember Oprah saying once that all people want is to be acknowledged, especially when life gets so stressful. So, I came up with the idea of Camp Love.
Imagine having an evening with your closest friends, and serving your favorite beverage (Champagne, green juice, tea) and writing affirmations in glitter and taping them on your glass. Read my previous blog post called “Beauty Water” to understand how important this practice is.
Buy some pens with feathers or flowers on them (you can easily make these at Michael’s) and write a short love letter to each of your friends at your get together telling them how much they mean to you. You will never know how much this little gesture will mean to them. When she is having a bad day, and pulls out her love note, it can really transform her day. You can give it directly to her, or slip it in her purse when she leaves. Believe it or not, I still have an old hat box in my garage of notes and letters that have been written to me since I was about seven.
Next, spend a couple of hours creating a vision board. I have been making vision boards for over ten years and I credit them to a lot of my success. Have plenty of old magazines (and make sure to have your guests bring there own), glue, scissors and poster board on hand.
“A vision board (also called a Treasure Map or a Visual Explorer or Creativity Collage) is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn out from various magazines. It’s simple. Really.
The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.” Source: http://christinekane.com/how-to-make-a-vision-board/
Finally, do something called the love tunnel exercise. I experienced this exercise at a two day personal growth seminar I attended some years ago. We were broken off in little groups of ten people, and over the course of two days, we got pretty close with each other. We started off as strangers and by the end of the seminar, we all felt pretty close.
We completed the seminar by doing this exercise. We formed two lines, and stood across from each other. Each person was blindfolded (one at a time) and then one person slowly spun them around and then escorted them into the middle of the line. One by one, each person who was standing in the line whispered something into the ear of the blindfolded person. These were words of encouragement, praises and compliments. Nobody could hear was was being spoken except the person who was blindfolded.
This was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I got a glimpse of how others perceived me, and those words were so empowering to me. Imagine showering your friends with this kind of love.
I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the less interested I am in small talk. I want to spend my time creating meaningful memories. I would love to hear about your rituals, and be sure to let me know if you try any of these ideas. For more information about the Tribute Book, visit: http://www.simplycelebrate.net/