Why Rituals Matter More Than You Know, And How to Design Your Own | Bruce Feiler

Why Rituals Matter More Than You Know, And How to Design Your Own | Bruce Feiler

June 8, 2026 · 55 min

About this episode

Bruce Feiler discusses the importance of rituals in navigating life's transitions and how to create new ones.

There is a particular kind of loneliness that hits in the middle of a full life.  Not because you are isolated. Because the relationships that used to hold you steady are all being renegotiated at once. Your kids have left. A parent has died. A marriage needs new terms. A friendship has frayed. And the cultural rituals that once helped people move through moments like this are mostly gone. Bruce Feiler has spent the last three years traveling to 26 countries, attending over 100 ceremonies, and interviewing hundreds of people to understand what happens when we stop gathering in intentional ways. He's a seven-time New York Times bestselling author and the creator of the LifeQuakes framework. His new book, A Time to Gather , makes the case that we are living through both a celebration recession and a ritual renaissance at the same time. In this conversation, Bruce and Jonathan explore what it actually means to feel homesick in your own home, why the four traditional life rituals no longer match the lives most of us are actually living, and what it looks like to design a ritual from scratch when the ones you inherited don't fit. What you'll explore in this conversation: Why…

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