What is Celebration really?
A party?
A loud exclamation, “Yay!”?
Sort of.
These are examples of celebration, but what does that concept really mean? Most of us have only a very vague emotional idea of that. Yet the ritual of celebration may be one of the most important ingredients for our success as human beings – in every area of our lives.
It’s all about Value. What is a value? Why have values? What is their purpose?
“If you want to know what someone truly values, look at their checkbook and their calendar”.
Very basically value is anything that each of us has decided contributes to our living a good life. It is the fundamental motivator…what drives us to move and act toward things. A value is anything that a person acts to gain or keep. If I am not acting to gain or keep it, it is not really a value to me, regardless of what I may proclaim. We have all heard the dictum, “If you want to know what someone truly values, look at their checkbook and their calendar”.
The purpose of values is guide us toward success in life, as we each define it. It is one thing to value something; we can value a multitude of things, but how am I to decide moment to moment which thing I value to act toward? In fact, at theWealthSource, we look at every moment of life as an investment decision; of all the things I can chose to do with my assets (time, money, energy, attention, love, service, principles, etc.), which one will generate the most of what I value in return? We believe that success as a human being to create the most of what we value most (wealth) during our lives. Therefore making that choice in the right way is the key success factor in life. Value is the very stuff of life.
So how does value connect to celebration?
Well, let me start with the idea of “ritual”. A ritual (secular or spiritual) is any activity or conversation which purpose is primarily to shift the state of mind or state of relationship for those who participate in it. Rituals can be welcomes, goodbyes, beginnings, endings, honorings, oaths and vows, etc.
Celebration is a ritual – a ritual about value. Celebration is any thought process, activity or conversation whose purpose is to acknowledge, grasp, appreciate and experience the impact and meaning of something or someone valuable in our lives. Think about it; every form of celebration you can remember or think of has this as its essential common characteristic. All the other details are just different variations and applications.
So, why Celebration? Why have we evolved this ritual in myriad forms – in every society and culture everywhere and everywhen? (Ok, so I invented a word, but it’s a cool word and it works.)
Stay Tuned for an in-depth look at my theory and the two components which make up our Sense of Life in Part 2 of Technology of Celebration.
