Grace
Grace is the natural way to shorten the grieving process. Grace in context to grief and grieving means that instead of being thrown into the downward spiral of anger, depression, denial, bargaining, and acceptance, we respond to loss with GRACE: Gratitude… Resilience… Authenticity… Creativity… and Empathy. Instead of sinking into the river of tears, we build an archway across it.
Reflections on Loss
I’m Not Sure…
Precisely what it means to lose someone you love.
When Jan passed at 5:15 AM on January 9, 2022, her body succumbed to the ravages of a highly aggressive form of brain cancer—90 days exactly from diagnosis to death.
Clearly, her body is gone but her spirit lives deeply in every breath I take and every thought I think.
After 30 years of the best marriage anyone could hope and pray for, I am left with her legacy, wisdom, and everything that made her “her” is still alive in me today.
The Grace Habit
An Important Tool For Healing…
So much of our lives are spent in search of meaning and purpose, especially during a time of pain and suffering.
The other day, as we were wrapping up a Grief Share session, I advised a young woman that she would carry her grief and pain until she made Grace a habit.
Every time she mentioned her departed husband’s name she would break into uncontrollable tears. Just hearing his name, or speaking it triggered a torrent of tears.
Quite inadvertently she had made grief and crying an unwelcome habit.
Feeling Angry?
Remember, To Love and Be Loved you Must Love…
Much of the time I spent in anger—with God, the doctors, my pitiful life, everything—was nothing more than wasted energy and ultimately, wasted life.
It is so easy to fall into the anger trap but, like a mouse, if you don’t chase the cheese you won’t get caught!
What is hard to understand is that it is impossible to love when your heart is filled with hate.
Sure, you will intellectually get it, but our emotions create a blockage that short circuits our belief that anger is robbing us of love.