I often pick up a magazine first thing in the morning and turn to one page and see what the day will bring me. Today I picked up Peppermint magazine issue 41 and read a short quote on a page about mental health and world rituals. It was about a community of people of the Bemba tribe in Zambia who do something amazing when one of their tribe starts to experience melancholy or transgress. 

Instead of excluding them, or starting to think that they had “gone mad” or had started to be just plain moody, they accepted that the person was experiencing a time in their life when they needed extra support, opposed to less.

Their school of thought is that when a fellow member of the tribe becomes sad, despondent, withdrawn or unhappy, they gather around them in a circle and tell that person about all the things that they think is good about the person who is sad, they remind them of all of the things that they have done in their life that has been good, memorable and has shone light into their lives personally. I can imagine that this type of intervention is far more healing than any psychology session. 

Imagine if we all took that stance when one of our community, be they friend or foe, was experiencing a bad time. 

This approach to helping one of the tribe heal from their melancholy is inspirational. It makes you think, what if the media took this stance? Instead of beating people up, what if they reminded them about all the good things the person they are reporting on have done, why not bombard them with stories of triumph, success and happiness they may have brought to the world using their gifts instead of making them feel less  – what a world we would live in…

What if we took time to help the people around us instead of shunning them away, what if they just need time to catch up? 

In my book I talk about the fact that we all vibrate at different rates and sometimes we need to 1. Realise that and 2. Slow down to let other people get to the same place. Some people seem to fit an inordinate amount of “life” into their days and others flail in their wake. 

A friend told me today about a tribe in Africa who literally slow down to allow the soul of the member of the tribe who is struggling – to catch up. What a beautiful concept, that our soul can sometimes vibrate at a different rate and that this African tribe are sensitive enough to be able to respond by literally slowing down to give the person enough space and time to get back to the path. 

I sometimes think that our Western fast-paced world has gotten it all wrong. We are fuelled by success, power and money, but really all we want is to be happy, healthy, accepted and loved.

I wonder what other wonderful rituals there are out there in the world that can help us in our quest for inner peace and happiness. Tell me about them. angie@unpacking.com.au