Most of us have had numerous experiences of grief in our lifetimes. Loss is an inevitable part of human life. It might be the grief of the loss of a loved one through death, other times estrangement, it might be the loss of a job, or the ending of a relationship. Sometimes the grief is not because you’ve lost something but because you never received something you deeply desired and wanted - like a the adoration of a parent, or the inability to have a child. Some of these losses are deeply traumatic - like the loss of a child.
For so long in our Western traditions grief has been stilted and silenced. There’s been a period it is considered acceptable to mourn your loss and then people expected you to “move on”. Fortunately today there are many people sharing their experiences and wisdom in relation to grief. You can find some of the books, podcasts and videos that have most deeply impacted me on my resources page - https://www.theholdingspacecounselling.com.au/resources. It is amazing to have so many people speaking about grief publicly - Andrew Garfield's conversation with Steven Colbert is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen which is no surprise as Steven Colbert speaks incredibly vulnerably and honestly about his own life experience with grief - you can watch the interview here ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u_TswLQ4ws
If you're navigating grief or supporting someone experiencing their own grief you might find this beautiful website helpful https://whatsyourgrief.com/ - it is a space for articles, resources and community conversation.
I love this quote …
“Grief, I've learned, is really just love.
It's all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest.Grief is just love with no place to go.”
~ Jamie Anderson
In my experience personally and professionally what most of us need in our grief is for people with capacity to hold a space for the waves of emotion and overwhelming sadness we inevitably have to navigate, and people who understand we don't outgrow our grief we grow around it - it will be part of us forever.
If you'd like to share more about your experience of grief in the comments ...
Yorumlar