When I think of engagement rings, many images flood my mind â diamonds, excited women, everlasting love, commitment or entrapment, romantic stories of prince charming sweeping you off your feet, something that seems not quite real, and even other-worldly. From my experience, and witnessing many women going through the engagement process, I see this as an âengagement ring consciousnessâ as it seems like something that comes from outside ourselves, like something fed to most girls from a very young age. Many girls and then women paint a picture about having a diamond ring on their finger, as this seems to be a societal expectation of what occurs when someone becomes engaged and in some cases, is what makes a woman feel complete.
With my engagement occurring over a year ago, I hadnât initially considered wearing an engagement ring because there was something about a simple wedding band, the elegance of which felt complete and seemed to be what I was about, what suited me. My partner and I decided early on in our engagement we would wear our wedding bands straight away because thatâs what felt natural to us. So a few days after we were engaged we purchased our wedding bands and have worn them since.
A couple of months out from the wedding I started having thoughts that I may be missing out by not having an engagement ring. I discussed this with my fiancĂ© and we decided this was something we could look at in the future. But that decision didnât stop the thoughts coming in.
What confused me at the time was, what I felt to be true for me was contrary to the thoughts I was having. I did recognise that they were thoughts coming from outside of me, like I was being fed from a well thought out advertising campaign of societal expectations and desires, because they were all ideas that werenât really from within me, where I was at in my life and what was important to my fiancĂ© and I at that point in time.
Ironically, on my wedding day I wore an exquisitely beautiful pink sapphire and diamond ring borrowed from a friend who owns a top end jewellery store. Its beauty was out of this world! My fiancé picked the ring from a couple of choices his friend suggested after she saw a photo of my wedding dress. I wore this stunning ring as though it were my engagement ring, not giving it another thought as I knew it would be returned soon thereafter.
However, my now husband had other ideas. When he returned the ring, he had decided it was and should be part of our âwedding package,â so he went about purchasing the ring from his friend. When he discussed this impulse he felt with me, I found many reasons why I shouldnât have the ring. But he honoured the impulse he felt, recognising there was something more on offer here for us than just a glamorous engagement ring.
He surprised me with the ring of the eve of our departure to Vietnam where we would be attending a Universal Medicine retreat and holding a second wedding celebration. He has a beautiful way of surprising me this man, and this surprise was no exception where it touched my heart ever so deeply â it actually seemed to reawaken a place in me, untouched for what seemed like lifetimes. It is difficult to put into words how this felt but I know something old and deeply hidden had been shifted to be healed.
What is interesting here is that the ring is not one that I would have considered, looked out for or necessarily chosen, as such a ring would never have been on my radar. I realise now with all my knowing that I wouldnât have seen this ring because I wasnât open to seeing it at that point in my life.
Consequently it was a big step for me to accept and claim this ring into my life. Itâs not the ring that takes me there, itâs what the ring symbolises and reflects to me in so many ways, but in particular about me opening my heart to so much more in my life â that I am and can be so much more than I am living and that there is so much more to appreciate in me and accept into my life.
More than anything it reflects to me the multidimensional nature of this universe we live in because it connects me to something ancient, from the stars long ago, but also to whatâs available here and now. And the flavour of that reflection brings an exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom.
What it also shows me is how I capped myself by saying that the wedding band was enough, that simplicity was what I was about. Simplicity is a key for me and keeping things plain and simple allowed me to hide in that, but really I am so much more and am here to reflect so much more.
So the ring consciousness was a smokescreen or a distraction to what was really there for me to see, feel and experience, which was about feeling glorious and allowing myself to stand out.
My experience with the ring consciousness was to fit in with societal expectations, to have a ring because thatâs what you do when you get engaged and to distract me from what was true for me. Donât get me wrong, thereâs nothing wrong with having a ring, but the experience for me was about something else. For me it was about a reflection and connection to an expanded and unlimited reality; an expanded awareness to somewhere out of this world that I know⊠to space and the stars.
My engagement ring now sits next to my wedding band on my finger, where the wedding band is a beautiful expression and symbol of my husbandâs and my commitment to love, each other, and what we are here to bring. And this is the true package or combination of rings for me and I thank my husband for honouring an impulse he felt for us on our wedding day, which allowed a healing for me and us. This has laid down another new footing for us to move forward on in our lives and stands as a reminder that we are all much grander than we know.
The two rings together are symbolic of the healing and reflection that has occurred for both of us, and especially for me in trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour. In that it allows me to focus and surrender to a place deep within that is incredibly still, connected to the universe and feels like my true way to live.
Published with permission from my husband.
By Ulrike Paul, Lismore Heights, Australia
Further Reading:
The Ring – Part 1: Our fascination with weddings and rings
Accepting all of you
Ring On My Finger
Reach for the stars
“More than anything it reflects to me the multidimensional nature of this universe we live in because it connects me to something ancient, from the stars long ago, but also to whatâs available here and now. And the flavour of that reflection brings an exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom.” A beautiful way to engage with Divinity.
There is something about a weeding ring that brings up so much appreciation and that is it is a circle or âoâ the symbol for God and how that is what feeling energetic appreciation is all about, in that it is the knowing of our most divine connection to our essences and wedding rings is such a simple reminder of the Love of God and Humanity.
Lovely that the two rings represent something so significant, ‘The two rings together are symbolic of the healing and reflection that has occurred for both of us, and especially for me in trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour.’
Behind everything, every form in this world there is a quality of energy that precedes it as such communicates a vibration that represents the divine or all this is not of this divine. We are indeed so much more in our multidimensional magnificence and beautiful to feel the claiming of this through the symbology of your wedding and engagement rings.
Indeed there is much to be appreciated in claiming the love that we are through the symbology of things that reflect our inner beauty and grace.
This blog is a beautiful example of how the next moment of expansion is already there to be claimed only if we decide to do so.
The hype that surrounds engagement rings is very strong. It has become one of those symbols in our society that says âyou have made itâ as a woman. Because these messages are so pervasive, and received subliminally from movies, books and role models, we are unaware that we are being played by a belief that is not actually ours.
Smokescreens and lies exist not by chance but specifically to offset the power of the truth. See past the illusion and join the dots and you will get to see not just the empty lie but something truly grand.
Stunning ring which it feels like chose you rather than the other way round as a reflection of what you are offering to the world. Great that you were open enough to explore your initial impulse not to have a ring to avoid getting caught in the ‘engagement ring consciousness’ and thus offer this re-imprinting for all.
Yes, it truly did feel like the ring chose me. I was able to get 100% out of my own way to allow it to come in, which shows the more I get out of my own way, the âmoreâ of whatever is required is given space to be there or come to me.
This is a beautiful reminder and confirmation, for us to get out of the way, ‘ the more I get out of my own way, the âmoreâ of whatever is required is given space to be there or come to me.’
There are so many ideas in the world that we can carry around and not even know we are doing it, until something thankfully comes along to shake it up a little, and then we get to decide are we learning from this or are we doing to react? I have found this occurring a lot concerning the body, what we wear on the body and being a woman, this is something to not brush over, but to explore, cockering our relationship with ourselves and our body.
Great to expose the whole engagement ring consciousness thing as well as how thoughts actually come from outside of us and not within!
Yes it is beautiful to have things that ask us to lift our current ‘normal’ as the quality is way beyond what we accepted as our ‘worth’ before. In my own experience these things ask me to be more delicate and feminine and consider my gorgeousness even more in my movements. So not being open to new things can be at times holding us back from this natural growth.
Yes we can get stuck in what we think is ‘our way’ when in actual fact we have expanded and are being called to reflect this.
Gorgeous blog to come back to and feel whatâs there for us when we let go of the pictures we hold.
This blog is testament to the fact that When we open our hearts to receive love life delivers all we could ever need and more.
Nothing means nothing does it?! I am forever learning that we are fed thoughts but taking time to understand why the thoughts are there leads to a greater understanding and the thoughts are now not controlling but informing.
‘….it connects me to something ancient, from the stars long ago, but also to whatâs available here and now. And the flavour of that reflection brings an exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom.’ Could it be it re connects you to your sacredness that’s within every woman
Indeed, it is the sacredness as in all of us
I look at your ring and see such delicateness and beauty that reflects how as women we are so much more than we think we are at times.
Thank you I just love reading this blog.. simply because it is so lovely, expansive and full of truth. Thankyou Ulrike, a big inspiration you are and what you share of truth for everybody.
The analogy of a well thought out advertising campaign in relation to the way a consciousness slips into your thoughts is very apt. The more I get to know myself when I am still and present, the easier it is to spot these thoughts that are fed to us constantly. It is very freeing to be able to spot them through the way they make by body harden or tense up and say no to them.
There is something so delicate about this ring and your story and the appreciation that you share here.
It can be very confusing to sort the sold images from a true impulse as advertising, ideals and beliefs come with a lot of force and do such a convincing job.
I find that the consciousness around things, and the pictures and beliefs I hold get in the way of my feeling for myself what the actual truth is.
What a beautiful sharing and unfolding Ulrike, a returning to your glory.
When we do the simplest thing it comes loaded with an energy. Doing a job or driving down a road each thing has a consciousness around it we have built as a humanity. But what you beautifully show Ulrike is that by knowing and being aware of this we can say âI doâ and take it on and reimprint everything.
What this highlights Joseph is just how much there is to re-imprint – something definitely worth giving attention to.
Thank you Ulrike, reading this piece again.. makes me realize how much there is to appreciate once we feel the gloriousness we are. You express this and show us that this is actually the ONLY factor that is important: accepting the glory that we are. That sets the rest of everything ON..
Too often Danna we settle for what we are not, but it is lovely to focus on the glory that we are and in that we claim back who we truly are…
Beautiful Ulrike – just because things arenât true or are pushed on us a certain way doesnât mean we can bring love and our beauty to them too. And how this happens is through us surrendering to what we feel, and honouring that without paying heed to beliefs and ideals.
Yes Joseph, the saying ‘don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater’ comes to mind! It is important to work out if we can re-imprint and ask ourselves if what we are doing is truly what feels right or if we are simply down the wrong road and the only way to get back is to write it off as a lesson and start afresh with no pre-conceived ideas.
So many of us get stuck in the ideals and beliefs around the engagement ring, I know I did. When I got engaged I was so desperate to have the ring that I settled for a ring that was the best of a small selection just so I could get a ring on my finger. At the time I wasn’t aware of what this was actually saying, and what I was accepting, but on reflection, I was settling for less and setting the whole relationship up with this acceptance. No wonder the relationship didn’t last as I was only offering a very small part of me to it.
So beautiful thank you for sharing Ulrike, the reflection of who we are will always be greater than what we want to accept; this is the challenge of evolution.
You highlight so beautifully just how capping it is when we allow ourselves to be run by a consciousness that feeds us ideals and beliefs that we think we need to fit into to be fulfilled. For as you have shared there is so much more for us to explore and appreciate of ourselves, of life and all that is on offer, when we willingly allow ourselves to surrender to our connection to Soul.
Just about everything â no, make that: absolutely everything in today’s world comes with a consciousness and it is only when we dig deeper and unsubscribe from any images, beliefs and ideals attached that we can get to the truth of the matter as it pertains to us in any moment.
So true Gabriele and when one ponders on this fact, we realise to what extent we may be affected by a consciousness of one type or another. Well worth digging more deeply to get to the truth of any matter and how it pertains to us.
Fabulous sharing Ulrike for wedding rings are symbols of a couples love for each other and I have to say, your engagement ring is absolutely exquisite.
I never use rings as I feel uncomfortable with them. This blog is making me ponder on why…
Ulrike, thank you for your sharing – in so many ways I can relate to what you have said in this blog. When I got married and got my rings, I wanted them to be simple and practical knowing that I wanted to wear them every day. And so I opted for simple gold band for the wedding ring and a simple gold band with three tiny little diamonds embedded in the band for my engagement ring. They were very inconspicuous, not glamourous at all, but very simple and beautiful. But years later there was a part of me that also reflected on if I had ‘missed out’ in some way, especially when I saw other people’s engagement rings and this began to put doubts in me. However, it never felt right to go down the track of purchasing a more ‘showy’ (for lack of a better word) ring – aside from the financial aspect. But what you have shared here about hiding behind the simplicity absolutely makes sense and I can relate and I feel there is a part of me that has been scared to let myself be seen, for fear of triggering a reaction from another. So it is symbolic and not about the ring itself, though of course the ring is a beautiful way of supporting our expression as well as confirming this on a day to day basis. Amazing the realizations that we can have upon reading another’s sharing as with your blog! Thank you Ulrike!
Ulrike, what an absolutely gorgeous blog that shares so much of you! I love how you have talked abut the images surrounding engagement rings and how important it is to not get caught up in that and distract ourselves from the true treasure which is what lies within each of us. But I also love how you came around to honouring the beauty within and allowing it out, symbolic of the gorgeous engagement ring you ended up having! Absolutely stunning you are!
Such a beautiful ring and what is even more beautiful about it is the process and unfoldment that you had coming to accept such a beautiful ring for your worth. So precious and delicate – an amazing reminder of how you are this also.
So beautiful to reread this, it’s very precious and expansive to read.
It is awesome that you didn’t do the traditional thing, and that you actually explored what ring might support the dress and the day, and took a whole different approach to an engagement ring. It sure does seem to be a big thing and a known point of comparison for couples. but this is actually a set up to stop us appreciating that a ring does not determine the quality of a relationship.
What a beautiful honouring Ulrike â and such a gorgeous ring, full of delicateness and beauty, a stunning reflection.
Spot on Jenny – the ring is a reflection of the stunning quality that is Ulrike and also a confirmation of her in her fullness. And yet her beauty and grandness is forever deepening…
This shows that symbols are around us reflecting back to us ALL of the time, should we only open our eyes and hearts to receive the messages.
True Elizabeth and Ulrike, and life becomes so much more joy full and we get another opportunity to deeply surrender the moment we do ‘see’ what surrounds us.
Wow this is an amazing unfolding and if this is what reflected back at you when looking at the rings and being reminded that the Universe is with us no matter what with any true movement that we make this is seriously incredible. To surrender to such depths within and know that all is totally covered and how beautiful this really is.
It is so beautiful to feel through the layers of the ideals and beliefs we take on from society and come to a truth which resonates with our inner hearts.
This is a true template to apply to anything in our lives
I love the symbolism that these rings represent and that their strength is because of your commitment to love in how you live. Very, very beautiful for us all.
It would be a very different situation had the love and commitment not been there, but most importantly the connection to multidimensionality. So with this, the ring represents so much more than just the physical ring.
I am very thankful for your blog- there are soooo many ideals and believes out there about getting engaged/ married, what it all needs. What it should communicate to others, even a pride, that shows to others ” look, I made it”. I find myself tainted too with these pictures, that we get taught and shown from young age. A blog like yours is much needed today!
A gorgeous sharing Ulrike, I am so inspired by your absolute openness in claiming all that you are and all that is on offer for you in your marriage. The ring is so beautiful and choosing it has offered you so much. “For me it was about a reflection and connection to an expanded and unlimited reality; an expanded awareness to somewhere out of this world that I know⊠to space and the stars.”
This and more is for us all equally so – and forever expanding as we open to the expansion.
When we weigh our worth on anything outside of us – be it a job, object or person – it will never satisfy or bring the fullness that is otherwise available when we cherish and foster our inner worth and value over and above anything else.
Exactly, and whether you are married/ engaged or not, do have kids or not, does not make any difference in the worth of a woman. No one can make you “full” – only you can. Imagine meeting people from this state of being, it sets free a freedom and space for the other that can only feel exquisite.
At every point there is an offering or a choice to expand our awareness of what is happening with and around us. So at any point we arrive to that we feel a true difference to the previous point then we should appreciate this. So often when something has changed or when my awareness has grown I have looked back and thought I was wrong, in place of appreciating the growth in awareness from one point to the next. Even in the typing of this I appreciate that this is how things are, the way to truly be with yourself. No longer to hit yourself with judgement on what you didn’t or don’t know but rather consistently appreciate that you/we know it all and are simply unfolding it all back to that point.
I just like reading this blog to look at the ring! It is so precious and sweet, there is something very beautiful about it that I have not seen before in jewellery, I am sure it is the love and care your partner feels for you that shines through.
I can also feel the absolute sweetness of your partner in the whole surprise and what kind of ring he bought for you. You are a very lucky woman. đ And I like how you both looked at all the pictures and what occured during this engagement process.
This is beautiful to read Ulrike and to feel the importance of exposing all the false ideals and pictures that keep us entrapped and playing small. I love the way you and your husband were so honouring of each other and were openly discussing this, it is obvious you both are committed to living and being in true relationship and to expressing this divinity to us all.
Thanks, Ulrike. It is great to hear about how you broke out of the consciousness of weddings and engagement rings etc, to come into a deeper relationship with what felt true for you.
It’s interesting these thoughts that can be fed to us, like a radio station in our heads that is difficult to turn off and is constantly drip feeding us expectations, ideals, notes of what we should be getting out of something or could be doing. It’s built on a lifetime of building a picture and takes time to turn it off… but as the volume goes down we then start to hear our own voice and value our own experience of the world.
I love this piece Ulrike. If we let go of the expectations and ideals we have harboured about marriage and rings, we are saying yes to much more expansion and amazingness that pictures could never fulfil, and this is what is symbolic in marriage, a true union with ourselves and with our partner and with the whole universe. I am smiling as when I feel this truth, how can we choose to cap ourselves in a ceremony that does not reflect what is truly divine? How many women have today rushed into marriages feeling they would reach this divinity with the act of marriage but without first a definite union with ourselves how could something we do guarantee this consistent foundation?
What you have shared here, Ulrike, is gold. When we let go of the pictures and ideals of what love, marriage etc should be, we actually deepen in ourselves and in relationship because we can feel the universality of true love which knows no bounds.
What a beautiful blog – it made me teary, not because of emotions, but because of the depth of beauty and multidimensionality that you reflect here with your blog and experience. You enrich the world with your sharings Ulrike, a thank you, which is not even enough, but will have to simply do:)
It is truly beautiful and deeply touching when we connect deeply to our truth and to all the ‘more’ that is always on offer for us all.
Beautiful and very inspiring Ulrike to do what we feel and the honouring of ourselves and each other with love and responsibility .
Thanks, Ulrike. What I feel so strongly reading this beautiful story is the level of surrender you have been able to go to, in yourself acceptance of love in your life.
When we allow ourselves to surrender to such beautiful adoration and joy from another then we get to feel the confirmation that is on offer.
Every time we accept a gift and the responsibility that comes with it we are then able to accept more such gifts whenever they are offered.
Wow stunning Ulrike… your expression AND the ring! Everything in life is symbolic of something and what you’ve shared here is quite the something when it comes to what that ring has symbolised for you.
Such an awesome blog about not following the misleading social ‘norms’ but following the truth from your heart. Now that is what true stories of love and true relationships are made of.
We have so many pictures coming at us moment to moment, it is a true gift to be equipped to clock them all.
” that I am and can be so much more than I am living and that there is so much more to appreciate in me and accept into my life.” What a beautiful realisation. Your ring doesn’t reflect the fakeness of romanticism for you. It’s about the responsibility you have to be all that you can be for yourself first and then for all others.
It is beautiful how true healing and expansion can occur when two people come together and commit to true love. Like you would never have seen the ring because of your ideals and beliefs yet your beautiful husband doing that offered an amazing expansion for you both. That is what true relationships are about.
“that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement “. This sentence jumped out at me Ulrike, and gives me a deeper understanding of true movement. It confirms the fact that the way we move is not the only way to express true movement, it is being in that place of stillness and allowing ourselves to observe what is present and then respond by expressing what flows through us from a very connected place.
Yes, that is a great description, Joan.
Yes, Joan and the Universe can be there in every move we make.
Bringing true love and understanding to the consciousness of rings marriage and love that is magical and very real to feel and changes everything .An amazing supportive reflection for us all and very beautiful.
Making the leap from â ring consciousnessâ to the spaciousness that you write about is a wonderful and inspiring leap of awareness
Thanks for sharing this, Ulrike. I love hearing the process of how you came to accept and appreciate at a deeper level, the grandness and beauty of who you are and what you are a part of.
This is a wonderful example of how when we are respecting and honouring ourselves we can then have a relationship that does this also with our partners or any relationship. To support each other in the most loving, caring and tender ways to see what is stopping us from claiming all that we are – that we are magnificent by nature and a part of the enormous Universe which is forever expanding and evolving minute by minute.
What an exquisite ring, Ulrike, matched only by the heart felt love and beauty in your words of appreciation ….
‘More than anything it reflects to me the multidimensional nature of this universe we live in because it connects me to something ancient, from the stars long ago, but also to whatâs available here and now. And the flavour of that reflection brings an exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom.’
I love the way you share the multidimensionality that you connected to, the acceptance and appreciation of yourself in full. Beautiful symbology and beautiful ring reflecting the truth of you.
Having just read your blog on the wedding dress and day I can see even more why this ring is a beautiful reflection of you in your fullness.
What I love about this is not just the ring itself, which is beautiful, but what it symbolised in your life by allowing you to embrace your magnificence, beauty and multidimensionality.
When we give or accept a gift we don’t often really stop and consider what it really symbolises and therefore what comes ‘attached’ to the gift in terms of ideals, pictures and beliefs so this is a great reminder that the intention behind any gift is what counts more than the gift itself.
I love what you share about your wedding and all the details, including in your blog on your wedding dress. When we leave no stone unturned we can access a huge potential and magic.
Your description of the ring does indeed make it other worldly, yet representing the potential that you and your partner have to live right now. What an incredible reflection you receive every day from a combination of precious metals and stones, in the perfect configuration for you both.
“Itâs not the ring that takes me there, itâs what the ring symbolises and reflects to me in so many ways, but in particular about me opening my heart to so much more in my life â that I am and can be so much more than I am living and that there is so much more to appreciate in me and accept into my life.”
Totally get this Ulrike, this ring is not simply the magnificence of its materials and shape but equally the energetic glow of all that you and your partner have lived and everything that will continue to deepen and unfold – magic in its truest sense.
As with most things in life they have also a symbolic meaning and it is wise to distinguish their true meaning from the imposed version that often overlays and suppresses the original one. To question why the true meaning has been ‘lost’ or bastardized is most insightful as one will recognize method and purpose to such estrangement. Exposing the false layer allows for the reconnection to something inside of us that restores our relationship with life.
So many people want a ring because it’s a ring. But when the symbolism of it comes first it becomes truly beautiful.
Weddings are one of the big things in life, or is it actually? Definitely thatÂŽs what we grow up with, loaded with ideals and beliefs, images and hopes, fears, desires and expectations. Finally when we are going to be married we have the amazing chance to become aware of all the subconscious stuff we have inhaled without even being fully aware of how much it is that has entered and polluted us from outside and now stands in the way of simply being who we are. To embrace that chance and clear oneself of the images as you have done is life changing.
Simplicity and gloriousness are no contrast but facets of one gem.
What we think we deserve is something we can all look at more deeply. I know that I have assumed that I do not deserve much at all, thinking that one day I would be better, healthy, more organised, tidy, happier etc and then I deserve this and that..Breaking ideas around dressing things and doing stuff for myself later is a trap I am very happy to be climbing out of… In truth we do not ‘need’ rings or anything, but I have two on my fingers and they are profound and symbolic of choices I have made with my husband and they feel like they serve a purpose within society about celebrating life and the power of honest commitment and one has a diamond and it sparkles and constantly reflecting the light we all originate from.
This is a really interesting blog because it blows away any belief that there is a right or wrong way to do things; stuck in rules and belief systems we forget to make discerning and real choices for ourselves… thank you, Ulrike.
Engagement ring consciousness is a big one- society seems to expect that you have an engagement ring or something is wrong with you- partner is too “stingy” or you must feel undeserving.
It was interesting that I had both my engagement and wedding ring stolen several years ago.
I then opted for a single band with small diamonds in it which feels right and reflects my inner beauty coming out.
There are so many things in life we fall for as being “the way it is supposed to be”, but who decided that is the way it is supposed to be? Once we can see outside of those pictures, we have an opportunity to live a more true life.
Great clarity, about this insidious movement. It takes us away from truth to entertain the pictures.
‘I found many reasons why I shouldnât have the ring’…. wow, we could apply this to almost anything in life, this non-acceptance of accepting more and grander. I can relate to this very much.
Well done Ulrike, showing all how it is done!
“What it also shows me is how I capped myself by saying that the wedding band was enough, that simplicity was what I was about. Simplicity is a key for me and keeping things plain and simple allowed me to hide in that, but really I am so much more and am here to reflect so much more.”
Very interesting Ulrike how we can lace simplicity with certain pictures and ideals and use it as a form of holding back. How magical that this ring – your partner – offered you the opportunity to explore, consider and celebrate your galactic potential.
How deeply healing and confirming of the divine flow of life – that we are far grander than human beings and our true expression is needed to expand the universe.
There are certainly a flood of associated pictures and ideas around engagement rings.
How refreshing to return to the truth and meaning of what a union and commitment is and to celebrate the fullness of each other and our potential together.
Marriage is such a beautiful confirmation of oneâs commitment to another and the ring is a solid symbolic expression of this beauty.
Rings are beautiful to use with purpose and meaning. My husband brought me a beautiful eternity ring a few months ago, it was a ring I had wanted for a long time and I knew when the time was true the ring would come to me. When we saw this ring together I just knew it was the one, a circle of diamonds a symbol of eternity.
What your sharing highlights Amita, is that there is a time for everything, but sometimes we get so impatient and even frustrated because we want things yesterday, ( I put my hand up here to this one!). Being patient is in the knowing that whatever it is we want, it will come when we are ready to receive.
Letting go of pictures of what marriage needs to look like and honouring our true nature allows us to connect to that which is truth within ourselves and appreciate and celebrate each other for the true love within.
It is always great to be reminded that we are multidimensional and out of this world ourselves. Choosing to see and appreciate the confirmation provided by many aspects of life reflecting back that fact to us is gorgeous. Thank you for this inspiring story.
Marriage comes with a whole gambit of pictures, fantasies and was of conforming to how it SHOULD or NEEDS to all be… even intentionally going against the pictures is still a picture as it stops the natural flow of movement that could otherwise be the guide for a wedding celebration.
“The two rings together are symbolic of the healing and reflection that has occurred for both of us, and especially for me in trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour. ” This is beautiful what you share there is the bigger power out their to support our true movements.
We attach so much meaning and significance to these things in our lives, like wedding rings, our house or the car that we drive. But boy oh boy, if we were to truly understood the real power of what everything in this world represents in a multidimensional way we would never squabble, argue or get stressed again about finding ‘the perfect thing’. Everything is laid on plate for us in a way we haven’t begun to imagine. The grand plan falls into place when we say “I do” to embracing life. Thank you Ulrike.
Thank you Ulrike a great sharing that many go through .. I did too. It was a process to show the boundless commitment I was signing up to. It’s like you said the commitment of union is for all including the universe. What better way to reflect the stars âš and the beauty within through a sparkle of diamonds ???? and a stone.
I just have to say it again, but I love that ring it is so precious and beautiful with a real depth. Really stunning.
A jewel is a thousand times more beautiful its sparkle is seen and felt both outside AND inside.
So much emphasis is usually put on ‘the ring’ when people get engaged, rather than the appreciation of the truth of what it symbolises. What a gorgeous example this is of how it can be the total opposite, and how your two rings together are a true symbol of what you and your relationship together represent to the world.
The beauty in the surprise is that there is no expectation of anything of this sought happening and that it came free of all expectations.
I love the true meaning of rings which is symbolic rather than just a physical object to adorn or to be recognized. Life is so much more than the physical dimension and when we honour the immensity of us in multi-dimensionality it is natural to wish to claim this expressed in a physical way. This is a very beautiful acceptance. And how beautiful to experience this in the symbolism of marriage too, as when we live the truth of what life is, everything is felt and the depth and the constant deepening moves us.
When I read stories like this, it confirms to be the richness of life that is on offer for us all, in any given moment, if we so choose to be open to what is on offer and sift through the ‘stuff’ to find the gold.
An absolutely glorious engagement ring Ulrike, symbolic of the forever-unfolding love, grace and beauty in your equally glorious relationship shared with your husband.
Wow, your husband truly sees and honours your beauty to buy you a ring that amazing, a reflection of all you are.
It is beautiful to break through the pictures and images we are confined by and start to see more of the whole.
We can hide behind anything.
Hiding is always a way not to share the true full us with the others.
We can always find a way to hide this if this is our wish and resort to whatever.
It is about not connecting to the potential but when this is felt, everything falls apart. Nice try though.
How great that you saw the ring consciousness for the smoke screen it is and the beliefs, attachments and needs that come with it, so accepting and embracing all your ring offered you in its multidimensional reflection.
I can appreciate just how much was brought up to be looked at in this process of accepting and claiming this ring and amazing that you also accepted that and all that is offered in doing so.
“So the ring consciousness was a smokescreen or a distraction to what was really there for me to see, feel and experience, which was about feeling glorious and allowing myself to stand out” – why cover up what is meant to be seen and confirmed in all its true glory?!
This is a very stunning sharing Ulrike. What you have shared brings the true meaning to engagement, i engage to bring all of me as the gorgeous woman that I am and surrender to our love with the man who offers me all his love.
Beautiflly said
“I engage to bring all of me” – indeed Caroline it is equally a pledge to ourselves as to the other.
It’s incredible as a society all these beliefs, ideals and pictures we hold and how we know from our innermost that they are imposed upon us. Yet we can go in reaction to this and choose something else which ultimately at the end of the day is of the same energy. Amazing you were supported to see through this and feel the absolute joy in being reflected daily how glorious you are just like the ring.
Such an exquisite ring is a symbol for the exquisiteness that is on offer in your relationships. There is a combination of delicateness but sturdiness at the same time and of course sparkle, which is a reminder of what you can bring of yourselves in every moment. Something to treasure.
One of my favourite books as a girl was Cinderella. ‘Cinders’ went to the ball 3 times and each time she wore a different dress. The dresses were, to me, absolutely magical, I used to look at them for ages. The colour, the sparkle, the shape. I feel that it’s stories like this that start the ‘falling in love consciousness’. Cinders met a handsome prince and fell in love, to me, as a young girl this was captivating and these themes that are introduced to girls, carry on into our adult life, they just get tweaked a little. I now see them as quite sinister in that they plant seeds in children’s heads about how life could be but by introducing pictures, they deliberately plant seeds that are going to steer children away from the truth of life.
David, Ulrike’s reason for wearing her rings is a far cry from the reasons why so many women wear engagement rings. Often rings are brought and worn for the statement that they make about wealth, glamour or the fact that the woman has snared a guy. For me what this demonstrates is that nothing by itself means anything, it really is the energy that is fuelling the activity, the object, or the person that is the key.
‘ trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour.’ I hold back in my expression and this is a great reminder that whenever I express truth, however risky it may seem, I am supported utterly and completely.
What a beautiful sharing Ulrike magical and full of love and awareness of the Universe and its part in us all.
I love this “trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour. In that it allows me to focus and surrender to a place deep within that is incredibly still, connected to the universe and feels like my true way to live.”
“where the wedding band is a beautiful expression and symbol of my husbandâs and my commitment to love, each other, and what we are here to bring” – This is absolutely gorgeous. Every piece of jewellery, but also clothing, accessory, car, colour or hairstyle can be a reflection of something grand; what we’re here to reflect ourselves or in constellation with someone else/others!
It is possible that any issues/problems we have in our lives, there is an acceptance issue that lies buried underneath. That said, when we are ready, the universe brings to us the precise constellation that allows us to expose the belief so that it may clear from our bodies creating more space for love to flow.
‘about me opening my heart to so much more in my life â that I am and can be so much more than I am living and that there is so much more to appreciate in me and accept into my life’, this sentence feels such a powerful message for me today.
We allow the perceived pictures in our heads to dominate what could otherwise naturally unfold and expand us immeasurably. The pictures can restrict and hold us in boxes that don’t need to be there.
Indeed Rachel and Jane, with every picture that i catch and undress – i feel freer and closer to who i innately am.
‘Itâs not the ring that takes me there, itâs what the ring symbolises and reflects to me in so many ways, but in particular about me opening my heart to so much more in my life..’ I love this, overcoming the ideas and beliefs about rings allows you to move beyond the normal perception of the giving and receiving of rings to understand deeper meaning and to appreciate what is on offer.
Living from the heart and in that to follow the intuition that resides in that connection, indeed connects us to the greater whole, the multidimensionality the universe is.
I have had a very similar experience, I didn’t want an engagement ring “What it also shows me is how I capped myself by saying that the wedding band was enough, that simplicity was what I was about. Simplicity is a key for me and keeping things plain and simple allowed me to hide in that, but really I am so much more and am here to reflect so much more.” I thought it was tacky and a woman being bought, a need in a woman…and so I said a classic band of stylish grace will do me….and it does sit well on my finger, but I had this feeing that I was was not appreciating something and the impulse of diamond kept glinting at me, but it was not about the ring in sense, my husband, booked us a surprise visit a ring maker to design a ring to go with my wedding ring, we have talked about what this ring meant and means and it comes down to a celebration of the claiming of myself as a woman of worth. This came 2 years after our wedding day, and I did wear it with my wedding ring for a long time and it felt like an engagement ring, a precious gesture, I now like to wear it on my right hand ring finger, feels good there. There is a lot to heal about our ideas around being and expressing as women.
I love the way your husband surprises you Ukrike â how beautiful!
It’s interesting how we can place so much importance on an object. And it’s easy to get fixated on the object and make it more important than what it is actually symbolising. With this in mind it is understandable why you thought you did not want the ring, but if the love you are feeling and sharing is overflowing and gorgeous why would you not want to represent this with a beautiful symbol of love. We just need to get it the right way round!
I can relate to this a lot, not from an engagement ring point of view necessarily, but in general, as I too would consider myself ‘no fuss’ in many areas, but in that, I know I am hiding and flying under the radar with that approach to life as opposed to really honouring what I feel and allowing myself to be seen.
This is so beautiful Ulrike.. I am touched by the depth of your story of you with your wedding and ring experience. What we are offered is an opportunity to look beyond â beyond our ideals/images and beliefs â by the reflection of the love that you have in you.. Which than makes the craziness of what we once have believed or thought of â make look strange or even disappears..
Very inspiring to feel what this ring has brought to you (and the whole process) and how we can choose to be open to anything that is evolving us â even if it is contrary to our minds.
This is a beautiful embrace of the true beauty that is on offer. Making the choice of following our impulses we are honouring the guidance of our soul, the way back to our essence.
You can feel through what you share and by looking at the ring, there is so much more than a beautiful ring on show here. It holds meaning and expression I can quite see how it reminds you of the multidimensionality of what we live and who we are.
Ariana, that is exactly my expression of this delightful blog. Thank you Ulrike.
That really is a beautiful ring Ulrike, both in physicality and in symbology.
Your blog makes me ponder of what we think simplicity means. Does it mean plain and discreet? Or could simplicity in truth meaning simply being the amazingness we are and showing this to the world?
It’s interesting what you pose here Lieke because simple may mean exactly what you feel to be true for you which may not always look like what we thought simple was. It may be something very straight forward with no complications as my husband felt with this ring. It was clear to him that it was my ring, so he purchased it – simple, done. It was the truth for me to have this amazing ring which was simple, although it may not appear to be a ‘simple’ ring.
What a beautiful example of when we think we are saying no to a consciousness we can be saying it by having another one that cuts ourselves short of the ever expanding opportunities when we allow the Universe to be with our choice.
I found that love has many expressions. This is clearly one of them.
The magic comes when we follow an impulse without questioning it⊠I find this fascinating as it always ends up being perfect for everyone involved â not just for ourselves. I had a strong impulse recently to buy 3 avocadoes but wasnât actually needing them, however that night a work colleague/friend text me asking if I could buy 3 avos from the same shop on my way into work the next day = already done!
It was no coincidence that the ring you borrowed was the one that was then chosen – constellation is magical.
I thought about this blog today as it highlighted in me where I accept less when there is always grandness on offer.
I love the playful ways that the Universe and our Soul constellates situations that provide prompts and lessons that offer understanding and deeper awareness.
What is so inspiring about this blog is the trust you both felt in this situation. Your husband trusted the impulse to buy the ring even though you gave reasons not to… and when it was given to you Ulrike, you trusted your body’s feelings – and in this there was so much healing, love and expansion for you both.
How often does this happen – when another can see our beauty, power and glory so very clearly, and we cant see it staring back at us from the mirror!
How common is the disbelief that we are so much more than we are living and that there is so much more to appreciate and accept into our lives? And yet there is so much magic in the world when we open to the possibility of this being true.
Your beautiful ring reminds me of the stars, the planets and the universes and so does your blog. I feel humbled knowing that there is so much beauty on offer for each and every one of us if we choose to simply be open to it.
It is so important that we are open to reading why we have certain feelings and where they may come from. Is it true or not true…being honest about these impulses, knowing, feelings allows life to have more clarity and depth and meaning.
It’s so easy to let our ideals and beliefs rule us to the point where we are not allowing ourselves something beautiful. How gorgeous that you opened up to more, and to something that you had not considered necessary. The symbolism of this ring for you is delightful.
So cool reading your healing with your process of accepting you as much more than what you capped yourself to be. It is interesting how we can see and call out one consciousness but at the same time we have aligned to another one that is offering the same capping. Each day you must love the reflection looking up at you to be all that you are.
Yes, this discovery of how much more we are, how beautiful we are is one of the most fun aspects of life I have experienced.
I love the way you allowed the ‘pause’ for the truth to come up and moved forward in making a choice unencumbered by the ideals, beliefs and pictures that impose upon and weigh-down such a magical time. Every detail holds the essence of truth in the relationships we share when we choose to go deeper and claim all that is on offer. Thank you Ulrike for facilitating how a true foundation can be established so that love can be reflected free of the illusion so many get caught up in.
This ring is out of this world for what it represents and what it has brought to you both. And it is a confirmation of true movement in alignment with divinity.
Ulrike, as I read through your blog I could feel how you had connected to your own beauty and divineness and then the ring was just a confirmation of that. Too often we look for an outer symbol first to show us that we are divine and gorgeous, for example we might buy a luxury car in the hope that this will make us feel better about ourselves but all it really does is bring further emptiness.
“The Ring from Out of This World” – is a result of being out-of-this-worldly !!!!
The Song that is filling the air at my place this morning is Miranda’s ‘Power Couple’ so beautiful and powerful in its making and expression. I feel your ring Ulrike symbolises this same potential for all of us to ‘engage’ in being a power couple to serve on earth.
It feels essential for us to connect to any jewellery we choose and what the intention or meaning is for us. It is after all a symbol for something we value. If we donât have our own connection, then we can be led by societal beliefs which donât allow us to feel the deeper meaning we can feel for ourselves.
Great point Fiona. It is very wise to consider the reasons behind our seemingly ‘normal’ choices.
Absolutely gorgeous to read Ulrike, how by accepting the beautiful ring you opened up and connected to the grandness of who you are and what you bring by your light to this world.
Wow this is a stunning article, amazing you have this beautiful ring to remind you of the multidimensional, universal Love you are part of and from.
I love how you’ve really explored this topic and have been able to get so much out of it. It’s amazing to stop and appreciate all elements of life.
A beautiful example of love in that your husband could see past what you couldn’t and supported you to go there.
A beautiful story to go with the ring. We went through the ring process and designed my wife’s engagement ring together – it wasn’t just educational (my first experience of jewellery!) but a lovely foundation for us both.
This brings back memories of the process I went through to buy my wife her engagement ring – initially I was looking for something which fitted a picture then I realised this was not the way and that such a picture did not exist in reality – i then found that things came together to bring a ring to me which felt true in every way. In going through this process, I could feel so much preparation for the deepening of our relationship.
Very beautiful and healing to read your words Ulrike and the ring absolutely reflects the loveliness of you and what you bring to the world.
Just beauty-full
Having always been one who used to look to buck the trend, seek attention from my fashion choices or try to be a bit different from the crowd, I absolutely adore the fact that my wedding ring is the totally traditional standard gold band – nothing fancy, different or attention seeking. To me it represents my new found humility, equality and the deep truth of my love for my wife – that doesn’t need to be flourished or glamourised by a fancy wedding ring.
What a beautiful example to all others; this is what engagement and marriage can be about — Universal Love.
Your comment makes me wonder how many more blessings await us, the more we allow and surrender to the bigger picture or divine plan.
And when I read ‘a woman demanding such a ring’ I feel no love but only need, which seems to be the antithesis of what the ring truly symbolises.
Yes Gill, that is key here, how my husband knows my value with or without the ring, so it wasn’t about the physical ring but about LOVE. That’s partly why it was so unexpected and such an honour to receive it, as well as a healing in knowing I deserved it.
I love that something so beautiful can reawaken and shift something in you to be healed. To not appreciate that we are more than what we are living only stands in the way of us accepting and living what is true and allows us to play less⊠so to have a reflection from a stunning symbol offer you a reminder of your power and beauty is just deeply divine and a truly stunning constellation for you to evolve and step into the gorgeousness of who you truly are.
Thank you Ulrike for this gorgeous blog. I recently bought myself a ring that looks like a wedding ring and wear it on my “ring’ finger which confuses people because they think I got married without them knowing! I too have had a lot of healing from claiming this ring and the way I am choosing to wear it because every time I put it on I feel like I am marrying myself. It is so beautiful when we claim what is true for us.
How much your ring offered you in your beliefs around engagement, that you embraced this, let go of the restraints of these and see all your ring is reflecting to you, a beautiful journey.
Thank you Ulrike for cracking open the ‘Engagement Ring’ myth and enabling us to see beyond the limitations that we place upon this ritual, the “well thought out advertising campaign of societal expectations and desires”. I can feel that what was awakened was a true connection to your grand and glorious divinity that goes way beyond the jewels, a quality that we are inescapably a part of but are seldom encouraged to become aware of or celebrate. You have lifted my appreciation of this part of a union: a commitment to love, life, one another and all we bring to the world, a celebration of two people coming together to produce more love, wisdom and harmony in the Universe.
I really appreciate what you say here Rowena about how our divinity is seldom encouraged or even celebrated – something that definitely deserves a lot more awareness and attention.
How amazing it is, to be able to appreciate the depth of beauty and grandness that even something as small as a ring can offer us when we are willng and open to receiving it. This is gorgeous, thankyou Ulrike.
Your humility when talking about the ring is inspiring, but it’s also lovely you’re open to sharing your experience of buying it, because there is a lot of purpose to this in the sense that a lot of people find a price tag difficult to digest when it doesn’t meet OR exceeds what they’re comfortable with, but you’ve presented that actually it’s nothing to do with cost but what any accessory, piece of jewellery etc. can reflect when it’s worn.
Our own art, or expression in the world, is so much more personal, beautiful, tailored, individual and unique than the image that gets sold to us by others.
Super sweet way to break a consciousness – do it the opposite way around, and not close off to it entirely. Now it is very much a part of your loving relationship and commitment to each other, rather than being a ‘should’ to tick off the list along the way.
Thank you for sharing your journey with us Ulrike! I can see how we do often miss what is underneath our own reasoning such as for yourself not wanting an engagement ring and yet it came to you in the most beautiful and loving way. A gift of healing.
You’ve shown us Ulrike how honesty and truth in relationships can heal very old patterns and beliefs, and free us up to share love more deeply with one another – and not just within the partnership…
What a truly beautiful story Ulrike. I love the way your engagement ring finally made its way to you. And what a beautiful man your husband is to have initiated this. It is great to wade through and break ideals, and see through distractions, and accept the Love that is and that you share through this magnificent symbol.
It is so wonderful that such a beautiful ring helped you to stop capping yourself. This ring is such a reflection of what is inside of you – brilliant shine and awesome looking and of course did this made you first react. I love it that your husband knows you so well to help you to grow even more. Is it not how a true relationship should be?
Yes, Ester what is on the outside is but a reflection of what lies within. Often times it’s a matter of recognising that which is before us or right in front of us.
What a beautiful process to go through, it feels like the discarding of an old message of just making do, when you Ulrike have so much to offer and reflect to others as you have recognised. I love the wording of the “wedding package” how the ring was part of something much bigger being provided here for everyone to feel.
Ulrike this is beautiful to feel, how you honoured what you felt and voiced it. Too often in relationships one or both can push down or hide their impulses about things that maybe they had decided to do a certain way in the past. When we lock ourselves in to believing that what was decided is it, we create tension around allowing any truth to be brought to it. And by the way, the ring is exquisite, reflecting the exquisiteness of you.
It’s gorgeous and beautiful to have a ring to confirm and honour a love that’s truly from the heart over any belief or pictured ideal which invariably sets the tone of marriage, union and future life spent together [or not].
It’s wonderful to read the journey through the distractions and the ideals to what is true for you. I can really relate to saying that is enough, I just want it simple and not allowing the universe to give you everything! Why not accept all the love in the universe through our being and allow all the reflections of this grandness to be with us?
Beautiful Ulrike this ring looks a lovely open flower and feels like it symbolises the open, joyful, loving relationship that you and your husband so openly and willingly share with each other and with us all.
This shows what divine magic is at play, and can come from trusting what we feel to be true, in following our impulses.
Stunning read Ulrike… Life and what it offers is not always what we expect or first see – there is always so much depth on offer if we are open to exploring and truly healing.
This really resonated with me and what you wrote came to me whilst driving today ‘it actually seemed to reawaken a place in me, untouched for what seemed like lifetimes. It is difficult to put into words how this felt but I know something old and deeply hidden had been shifted to be healed.’ I feel something similar is happening for me if I allow myself to go there .. not through a ring or partner but through my relationship with me. I love the tenderness and fragility you write with it inspires me to allow this more within myself as well to surrender to this.
Thank you Ulrike for the gorgeous, gorgeous blog reminding me that we are so much more than our minds can comprehend, we just have to claim our connection with our multi-dimensionality and power, and start living love every day.
Dear Ulrike, thank you for sharing your awareness and learning and unfolding with this process! How beautiful and truly deeply meaningful this experience has been for you. You and Matt are both truly amazing and so worth celebrating in every way!
Each one of us is worth celebrating in every way. Celebrating in a loving way is something I am bringing more awareness to because society encourages us to work hard and celebrate even harder. However, generally speaking, this formula does not seem to make people contented and satisfied with their life. I am more in favour of lovingly celebrating the love I feel deep within me, the depth of love I share with my husband and the love I feel for the many people in my life. This to me is food for life..
Thank you for a beautiful sharing and it feels like it is not whether we do or don’t do something but rather to question what is it and why are we aligning to a way ‘just because….’ neither going along with something’ just because..’ or reacting and saying ‘I’m not doing that because…’ feels true. Instead what you were open to and unpicked for yourselves is truly inspiring.
On reading your blog my first feeling was the idea and pull we have as women for engagement and self-worth linked to this. For generations women have been more highly regarded when married rather than when single and I suppose rings were the symbol for this. I know that in the past I have felt lesser as a woman because I wasn’t in a relationship and felt the lack of ‘not having a ring’. Itâs a huge consciousness to break.
Thank you for sharing Ulrike – it is amazing what unfolds when we honour our true movement.
Love this Ulrike, the most amazing accessories/items of clothing have got to be those that remind us of the universe and multidimensionality!
Very cool Susie, imagine the difference that would make to the fashion industry!
Or what we would then expect and demand from the fashion industry if we approached our shopping in this way.
But also beautiful to be shopping with that intention; rather than the norms of vanity, recognition seeking or following of the fashions.
I love this Susie – shopping with joy and purpose rather than exhausted shopping feeling enslaved by fashion ideals.
So beautiful to read the connection you felt to the universe via the symbol of the ring, deeply inspiring what you healed and were able to allow.
Instead of “throwing the baby out with the bath water” we need to reclaim these events, moments, movements as the powerful opportunities that they present for healing and evolution; as you so beautifully have. The world is not broken it is just very seriously bent out of shape.
This is such a beautiful romantic story with such a great lesson. Breaking the consciousness around rings is definitely needed. My wife and I got married in a pretty unconventional fashion with the engagement ring being bought some time later which was just how it happened and not done to any ideals or to please anyone.
Wow Ulrike, what an absolutely beautiful confirmation this gorgeous ring is of the absolute glory that is you!
What a gorgeous sharing, I’ve never heard anyone talk about engagement, love and the universe in this way. Not only did you uncap yourself but you have cast a beautiful light over this area for us all Ulrike.
You bring to the fore a very big topic that spans far wider than just the engadgement rings, to the wedding cerimony and even back to the gifts given during the relationship, we have very set ideas of what love should look like and how it should be expressed, but what if these picutres got in the way of us truly expressing and accepting love?
This is a great learning and a continual deepening and development for us all âthat I am and can be so much more than I am living and that there is so much more to appreciate in me and accept into my lifeâ
Awesome that you felt to wear your wedding rings as soon as you got them as a sign of your commitment to each other and then added the engagement ring as a celebration of your love that you share with all through the reflection of this beautiful ring.
Such a beautiful and glorious process to share like this and revealing of what affects us in the process of engagement and buying rings, thank you Ulrike.
Beautiful that you accepted the reflection your ring had to offer you ‘an exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom’ and saw your thoughts and beliefs for what they were, capping you from being more of you.
Thank you for sharing Ulrike. There can be so much focus on engagement rings and the gitz and glamour of them – what I love is how you have brought it back to the purpose of why you are both together and married. To narrow it down to just about you 2 would cut off the Universe. I remember choosing an engagement ring and I was impulsed to choose 3 diamonds one for each of us and one for humanity symbolising it was not just about the 2 of us. Holding this at the forefront is like you are doing with Matt is truly special to observe. Thank you.
I love how certain items can remind us that we are so much grander than we could ever imagine – and it sounds like your ring does this for you. I also love the symbology of rings and that the circular nature of them, which means that this magic or grandness is forever.
These are the items that we treasure – those that have a purpose, that reflect something back to us, pulling us up to be even more. A far cry from much of the stuff we surround ourselves with – that pulls us back to memories, emotions or old patterns. This should be our intention in deciding what we keep or what we evolve away from.
When I feel into what you write here Otto, I feel it’s time for a clearing of some of those things I have surrounding me at home. Great to feel it on that level, those things that hold you back or those that assist in your evolution.
Ulrike, I can really relate to what you have shared about capping yourself and not wanting to stand out, I can feel that I often do this with clothes, make up and jewellery that I can choose plain things rather than allowing myself to express my womanliness, beauty and power – its great to read this article, thank you.
Amazing how the Universe can bring us something we weren’t expecting and it turns out to be the most beautiful , healing, reawakening thing for us.
Ulrike this was absolutely Divine to read, thank you.
Interesting to mention that after reading this blog yesterday I passed a jewellery store when I went shopping and I felt to go inside and have a look at what they had on offer. I was drawn to the showcase with golden jewellery and found a beautiful ring, like what you say Ulrike, out of this world, made to remind, honour and cherish that we are so much more and actually not from this world. We are asked to live this beauty and show it unconditionally to the world. So I decided to buy it for my beautiful wife as I love to see her wearing golden jewellery and on a second note she deserves to be cherished and honoured for the love that she holds, a quality that is not limited to this world but is universal from its origin.
I am deeply touched by your comment Nico van Haastrecht. What a gorgeous reflection of the grace and beauty within us all, and the honouring and appreciation between you and your wife. Thank you.
Your beautiful wife deserves this glorious ring, not because of what it is but what it symbolises. I feel the depth of love you share with your wife and this ring is a symbol of your love â it too is from within and out of this world.
By the way, now that I look at the close-up of the ring again, it reminds me of four sparkling butterflies landing on a purple flower in the center. A great foundation for your marriage, indeed!
“For me it was about a reflection and connection to an expanded and unlimited reality; an expanded awareness to somewhere out of this world that I know⊠to space and the stars.”- This line touched me deeply Ulrike, and this blog has really opened up a whole new understanding for me concerning how I much I honour myself and my true potential vs. how much I play small and hide in life under false justifications for this lesser way in order to not stand out. I love the image you portray of you moving into a more grander form of expression as this is reflected in the gorgeous ring that your husband felt to honour you with.
Interesting… in the past I have had an eternity ring, an engagement ring and a wedding ring. Like you, I loved the simplicity of the plain wedding band. Now I wear no rings – I never really liked the constriction on my fingers, but your blog has given me food for thought in terms of what it signified. The removal of the wedding band was significant in the break up of the long term relationship, and I’ve sold it since, but kept the engagement ring, not to wear, but because I was attached to its design and its Edwardian history. I thought that perhaps one day I’d get it made into a pendant or another ring, as it has several small diamonds in it. There may be more that I am attached to, perhaps the romantic ideals I had back in 1967, who knows… so I shall explore…
Amazing Blog Ulrike, wedding band also feels that it brings a connection with God as the symbol for God is an âOâ! So every time I touch my wedding ring it reaffirms my commitment to God.
This is so beautiful and a powerful re-imprint of the symbolism of rings, thank you Ulrike. This can ripple through the engagement ring consciousness offering love to all that is out of this world.
This is really beautiful. Sometimes our true impulses get an overlay with thoughts that, if we follow the thoughts rather than the true impulse, we get ourselves into the mess. In my experience we have to get back to the truth of the matter, not just the action involved in the matter – here an engagement ring – and then things can work beautifully.
So much to say on engagement rings, like for example [and not just the diamond or particular gem stone] but also the cost to show ‘how much he ‘loves’ and ‘holds worth’ for his future wife’ … and the pressure men can often feel about that too, as well as also the anticipation and expectation we have as women too in this regard. Union rings are but symbols and confirmations of the depth of shared true love, not a measure or monetary value of it, because how can there be a price on what is price-less?
This is gorgeous Ulrike, when we are willing to look deeper within we see there is a whole universe on offer that is continually there to support us in knowing we are so much more than the physical body.
âI was being fed [thoughts] from a well thought out advertising campaign of societal expectations and desiresâ. This is a great way to describe the flood of thoughts that are fed to you from a particular belief held by the majority of society. It is quite an active campaign that keeps coming back to check. âAre you ready to buy this idea now?â and then later, âHow about nowâ? When you think that you are the source of your thoughts rather than the receiver of them from an energetic source, it is easy to get sucked in, thinking that is actually what you want.
What I see or observe by way of objects or movements offer a communication that is meant for me and being aware of this true communication and receiving this with the love and healing it brings relies on being able to pick when something else is attempting to impose on that. Love and healing comes in many forms and often in the way least expected.
This really shows how much we can be influenced by society, and messages, what we wish to represent us or just what we feel we need to have to fit in.
Beautiful to feel how you are reimprinting what true marriage is about and letting go of your pictures about how it should be.
Ah such sweet words Ulrike. It is incredible the amount of ideals and pictures we have in life and especially to do with marriage. The thoughts are thick like the densest forest and can make you feel sick in the stomach. All of this can make you want to run a million miles away from this wedding schtick. But that is to miss the true symbolism that is there, the magnificence we can see in everything, the true universality we can say yes to, and reimprint all the selfish, small minded hopes and dreams we are sold to get in the way of making our ‘special day’ all about Love and our Soul.
Thank you Ulrike, what was interesting for me to read was how the picture of engagement rings and the accompanying consciousness that had initially interfered with you connecting to the truth and symbolism of the ring. It also reflects that if we choose to focus on pictures they keep us on the surface and away from our own depths, and away from our ability to sense and read the truth for ourselves.
I don’t know if this is the case but it feels to me that engagement rings became the norm at a time when the focus for women was to get engaged and fulfil society’s expectation of them. It was a status symbol, a prize, a message to the world that she was validated, worthy and therefore better than those women who were yet to catch their man. It’s a heavy consciousness to wear on a delicate finger and an important one to expose as it is preventing us from feeling the potential of the symbology behind an engagement ring and the support and evolution on offer in its reflection.
I found it interesting reading about the ring consciousness as it has never affected me. I married 24 years ago and have never thought about an engagement ring, wedding or other and never had one. It seems there are so many consciousnesses out there to hook us or hook into and some get us and some donât get anywhere near us if we donât have an opening. Your ring is beautiful!
Thanks Nicola.
Ulrike’s sharing of her insights and revelations, together with your lack of any attraction to rings whatsoever, have completely blown out the ring consciousness for me.
Thank you Ulrike for a beautiful example of how a picture, a consciousness constrains, limits and diminishes us within its boundaries and how by breaking through its chains we experience the truth that it withholds us from.
It is easy to get mixed up in society’s ideals and beliefs and this can definitely cloud what we feel about things and how our life should be.
Ulrike this is beautiful. What I find interesting is the smokescreen of the engagement ring consciousness. If that was me I may have used that to say that I didn’t need the ring as I didn’t want to be part of that consciousness and then I’d miss out on all that multidimensionality kidding myself I’d stayed clear of something toxic.
Yes, having one consciousness about another consciousness, though both keeping one trapped in the ideals, pictures and images of right and wrong…. I used to have a similar one about marriage itself. We do miss so much when we reduce ourselves with ideals and beliefs.
The ring is a gorgeous and rare beauty … as are you .. so a perfect constellation âš truly beauti-full to read this ‘which was about feeling glorious and allowing myself to stand out.’ onwards and upwards keep being and shining all that you are.
Ulrike, beautiful, thank you for sharing this.
Ulrike, I feel that there are a lot of connations around engagement rings, and weddings full stop. As you say especially for women, it’s as though you have to get married or you will be left on the shelf and become a ‘Spinster’. Excuse me but who the heck came up with such a derogatory word for single women?
This blog certainly breaks the consciousness of engagement rings in more ways than one. Thanks for sharing the love for all of us to be a part of.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your sharing about the ‘Engagement Ring Consciousness’ and how you both have been to allow it to unfold in its own flow. Hence –
“So the ring consciousness was a smokescreen or a distraction to what was really there for me to see, feel and experience, which was about feeling glorious and allowing myself to stand out.”
The glory you’ve felt is also felt through your sharing.
It’s a joy to share the glory, as should be normal for us to all share the glory we experience with each other.
Awesome. Thank you for sharing this process with us Ulrike. Sometimes it takes a while for us to unscramble our thoughts and feelings and get to the heart of the matter as they say. Staying open to an ever expanding awareness allows for so much change and deepening of wisdom.
Ah yes, engagement and wedding rings – you can find online massive mood and picture boards and inspiration for ideas of which rings to choose and with it comes this attachment – the better and more beautiful the ring, the more love, commitment or appreciation from the person giving it to you, right? If a guy proposes with a beautiful, unique and personal ring, he must know and love me a lot, but what if this is true, but he simply felt to honour the relationship with something simple? Is the love any less, should I say no, simply because my pictures have not been met? When the focus remains on the true love shared, the ring and the wedding and everything else simply becomes an expression of that love and it doesnât matter how it looks.
When me make the ring the be all and end all the rings beauty simply will feel purely empty despite its looks. When a ring is given to another from the love that is already lived between each other the ring comes with the Livingness of that lived and therefore is a very powerful symbol and reminder of that love everyday.
I love what you share, Ulrike about how your accepting the ring was an unfolding process. That at the beginning there was a fixed idea of how you wanted things to be, but in that there was an opening of more and so the more could actually be.
So many aspects of life have been turned into cliches kept up by our emotions, ideals, beliefs and at times fueled by commercial interests as well.
When we start to observe and wise up to the many inconsistencies in our choices, we often have a knee jerk reaction and in effect act as the idiom ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’.
Thank you Ulrike for this wonderful reflection of the value in staying open to feel beneath all the false pictures and exploring our own connection to what is offered.
This is beautiful Ulrike and confirms that we can find healing and appreciation in so many wonderful parts of our lives and that many things can be a symbol or reflection for us to grow and learn from. Simply magic thank you.
These everyday norms of human life have so much to explore and be aware of beneath the surface of ‘that’s just what we/I do’ – it’s beautiful and makes life far more joyful opening up to the possibility thats there’s more.
Just gorgeous Ulrike, what an incredible claiming of yourself, and all you are here to bring as a woman and as a couple. That ring sparkles just like you do – it is most likely the closest object if you will, in physical form that can symbolise the gloriousness you have within and now shines out for all to see.
The way the ring is described here as a symbol of the stars and the universe, of where we are from and to which we will return, is exquisite. For too long we have used symbols to bolster our self worth. What if we have not truly honoured the otherworldliness symbols truly bring, as Ulrike has here.
And if we were to do this Leigh, imagine how our world would open up, be so much more purposeful and joy full.
What an amazing, stripping bare the ingrained beliefs and advertising in the relationship with engagement rings. You have exposed the lack of the most important missing symbolic point of the rings and the connection of not only each other but the joining in love with everyone.
Bridezilla consciousness aside â a ring has no beginning and no end and therefore is symbolic of the unbreakable bond of love that unifies us all. That we wear it on our finger signifies that we are committed to expressing this love in all that we do, think, speak etc. I love how this particular (and very gorgeous!) ring found its way to you as a confirmation of the ageless depth and beauty of who you are, through a man that knows such magnificence when he sees it. You two are truly divine â a match made in Heaven.
“Engagement ring consciousness”. It would seem there is ( or can be ) a consciousness in everything we possess or do. The key is to be aware of it and look under the surface, as you did with regard to your engagement ring Ulrike. Then we can find the truth.
There is consciousness around so many things, so it is really about being aware what is true and looking under the surface, not getting caught in the ideals and beliefs.
Awareness is key.
This is beautiful Ulrike thank you. It offers a great inspiration to not reject something based on a recognised consciousness or ideal button but be open and deeply feel within ourselves what the true meaning of something is for us.
Sometimes there is a lot of ‘noise’ like any type of consciousness that keeps us from feeling the truth for ourselves, so it’s a matter of consistently and lovingly surrendering until one feels complete or full in a decision made.
There is certainly a consciousness around having an engagement ring. A symbol that you are betrothed; someone wants to marry you, that you are no longer on the shelf, and then so much more as you describe Ulrike. Interesting that there is no equivalent for a man.
Very true Debra. The engagement ring symbolizes so much for women. It’s refreshing to read another way of approaching it.
Ulrike, thank you for sharing this profound story of healing through a deeper level of re-connection to the innate stillness within. And, Yes, on seeing your engagement ring, I can fully appreciate the reflection it brings of ‘exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom’ is a reflection of the truth of all that you are.
“More than anything it reflects to me the multidimensional nature of this universe we live in because it connects me to something ancient, from the stars long ago, but also to whatâs available here and now. And the flavour of that reflection brings an exquisite beauty, womanliness, power and wisdom”.
I love how you identified that the need for a ring was coming from the programming of societal expectations, expectations that the majority of us simply accept without question. Perhaps this is because to let go of the programming feels like we have let go of an anchor that holds us in place in life. How wonderful it is though, to let go of these old ingrained ways of being and throw the door wide open to new possibilities; who knows what joy might come through it!
I really love that and the reflection of the ring is beautiful. Rings are very beautiful to be used with purpose and meaning and we can go far beyond the meaning of engaged or married which in a way feels a bit limited. What does the marriage reflect and thus the rings symbolise is a great question to ask.
Ulrike I very much understand what you relay here. My husband and I bought a wedding band each but not an engagement ring for me. My ring does have a companion piece but it was outside our budget at the time. In a year’s time we’ll have been married for 9 years and I suspect we’ll be revisiting this situation to mark the completion of this first cycle of our lives together.
I love what you have shared here Victoria – how many people share this situation like you experienced with others. Instead get caught up in the societal pressures and norms often putting themselves into financial debt to be seen to be doing the right thing by others.
I too had this experience – in fact, my husband and I bought ‘commitment rings’ rather than engagement rings though we both knew they were the former. It was only after we had the wedding bands that we looked for an engagement ring but we never labeled it as that, and we changed it last year because we saw another ring that was so beautiful at the time. It wasn’t ever about the cost or the diamond, it was always about how we felt first.
The consciousnesses that we can take on from outside of ourselves cap us from going deeper and hold us back from a greater level of responsibility to live by in our lives. Sometimes I know when these ill-thoughts enter as there is simply a knowing they are from outside of me. They enter to try and take me away from what I feel is my purpose but clocking the thoughts support me to come back to me and surrender to that which I know is true.
This is a great sharing Caroline because underneath it all, capping is a way of avoiding responsibility. I love how you describe ‘they enter to try and take me away from what I feel is my purpose but clocking the thoughts support me to come back to me and surrender to that which I know is true.’ Here I feel you are truly honouring that which is true to you, using that as the starting point or platform to clock the ill-thoughts, and because it comes from your truth brings love and healing to those ill-thoughts = an opportunity to feel more space in the body.
” trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour.” A great example that with expanded consciousness we can replace old beliefs that cap us.
“trusting that God or the divine or the universe is right there to support any true movement which I feel and choose to honour.” Sometimes all we are called to do is get ourselves out of the way.
We all innately know what we are worth, it is only our wandering mind that tries to make something of it, that tries to make it a creation of the mind. Instead we can also trust that inner impulse that innately what is true or not, as show so clearly in this blog, will bring the opportunities for healing on the many levels of our being.
Nico thats so true as it takes out the trying to be something and brings back the simplicity of the fact that we are already very much alive in the knowing that we are worth everything and most importantly worth absolute love and care. It also raises the question of where do those thoughts come from that are contrary to this.
This truly is a magic ring, that has brought you so much, but the best thing is how it made you feel that you were capping yourself and that you are so much more.
It’s great when we get to feel what may be limiting us, in contrast to how society promotes aiming to constantly ‘feel good’ to avoid feeling what may be truly holding us back.
It really is a fine line to how we can limit ourselves, when we are not connecting to our feelings. Our feelings are great indicators of truth, the more we allow and listen the deeper our connection with self.
‘What it also shows me is how I capped myself by saying that the wedding band was enough, that simplicity was what I was about. Simplicity is a key for me and keeping things plain and simple allowed me to hide in that, but really I am so much more and am here to reflect so much more.’ When I read this revelation about keeping things simple something in me shifted as this is something I tend to do too. I hide behind this simplicity and also when I call something natural I feel I not fully appreciate divinity, my true nature and all the support that is available.
I also get the sense that the more we fully appreciate the more of the ‘hiding’ is revealed to us as we feel what is not true.
The beautiful ring is a reflection of the shine and sparkle of all that is you.
It looks like butterfly wings! So very beauty-full what you have shared here, Ulrike.
ps if that is the actual ring it is absolutely gorgeous in all the ways you describe.
I agree. It’s so delicate and spectacular – just perfect for you.
I love this sharing, I can completely relate to the not wanting to join the fuss and pomp of wedding rings and ceremonies as sold to us by the stream of pictures associated with that ceremony. How wise your husband is, and how beautiful to be open to receiving the symbol that we are more, so, so much more.
Yes, my husband is wise and so am I in allowing myself to surrender and accept what was on offer here. P.S. the photo is one of the actual ring
Ulrike its great what you are sharing here as there can be so many pictures of weddings and rings. What stands out to me though is the fact that the ring can be worn in celebration and as a sign of commitment to the values and truth that you hold for your marriage and relationship, the fact that there is no end to the depth of love and evolution on offer.
So true David, which means the pictures we hold potentially cap our experiences which may hinder us going deeper to depths of evolution on offer.
These false pictures really make it super hard for us to even see the beauty within experiences.
We are fed these pictures about weddings – especially girls- from very young. ‘The whole perfect day’ thing that ends up costing a bomb and no one looks at making the whole marriage true. It is beautiful on so many levels what is shared in this blog along with exposing the very ingrained and insidious false consciousness many have fallen aeons.
David, Ulrike’s reason for wearing her rings is a far cry from the reasons why so many women wear engagement rings. Often rings are bought and worn for the statement that they make about wealth, glamour or the fact that the woman has snared a guy. For me what this demonstrates is that nothing by itself means anything, it really is the energy that is fuelling the activity, the object, or the person that is the key.
I love the process you went through here – and how you were able to discuss openly how you were feeling and explore what comes with n engagement ring and all the pictures. And how cool is it you got your engagement ring after the wedding. I love that we don’t have to follow this structure of how it should be done – and we can go by how we feel.
So true HM, it shows that we are all different and how important it is to follow what we feel for us. This also highlights that there is not a right way but only a right way for me
I love that – the right way for me.
Beautiful in every way ????
I agree – this blog oooozes beauty.