About Grief

In every conference I have attended this year, there are presentations on grief- how to recognize it in students and clients, how to recognize it in your own self, how to work with it, and transform it until it no longer consumes every thought.  

We live in a world full of unprocessed grief. It seems to have gotten worse since Covid. It lives in our bodies, and comes out at inopportune times as anger and frustration. It wells up in us and produces tears when we least expect them.  As a society, we are holding our breath to see what will happen next.  

Sharing our stories and how we feel with others can make us less alone- and help us feel lighter, remembering we aren't the only ones who grieve. 

I am considering creating a resource for when encountering grief. All of life is a series of dyings, and then finding some way to move forward. Perhaps I can create a project that makes it easy to land on a idea, an activity, a meditation that can somehow bring you to a new place.  

I would love to hear from you. If you have had any success with processing grief in a meaningful way, please reach out and let me know.  Not everyone will go to counseling, even though I believe we all benefit from talking to someone about our struggles.  So if I can create a tool that helps people where they are, that's what I want to do.  

So in the mean time, if you are suffering from loss right now, know that others have been and are going through loss too. It is part of being human. As hard as loss is, it is a vital part of us feeling joy. Here is a lovely blessing to remind you that even in the darkest of moments, you are not alone.  

 

 

The Healing that Comes

by Jan Richardson

 

 

I know how long

you have been waiting

for your story to take

a different turn,

how far

you have gone in search 

of what will mend you 

and make you whole.

 

I bear no remedy,

no cure,

no miracle

for the easing 

of your pain.

 

But I know

the medicine

that lives in a story

that has been

broken open.

 

I know

the healing that comes

in ceasing

to hide ourselves away

with fingers clutched

around the fragments

we think are

none but ours.

 

See how they fit together,

these shards

we have been carrying-

how in their meeting

they make a way

we could not

find alone.