Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Feb/March 2018 Aspire Mag Full Issue: Inner Prospe | Page 56

Though everyone feels grief on a more
regular basis than they might admit, we are
rarely taught how to grieve, unfortunately.
By understanding the similarities in all forms
of grief, we can better contextualize our
feelings and understand how to be with them
when loss arrives. Each person’s grieving
process is unique, but the experience is
universally human.
Wound
CLEANING THE
how we clean the wounded heart. Just as
we would flush out a physical wound so it
does not get infected, we need to get out
all the emotional reactions to our loss by
talking about our loved ones, writing them
letters, or creating tributes of love to them.
Plenty of rest is needed as well as fresh air,
exercise, healthy food, and moral support.
Daily meditation is especially healing, as
it offers time and space to witness all that
arises. We can be with the intensity of each
moment of grief, offering gentle presence
to ourselves as the heart heals. Through
stillness, we can return to the pure love
within where we are always connected.
When we lose someone we love, nothing is as
it was before, and no one likes change when
it is forced upon them. A wounded heart is as
raw and vulnerable as a wounded body. And
just as the body takes time to repair itself, the
heart also takes time to heal.
The first response to any loss is often shock
coupled with numbness or lack of feeling.
As a little time passes, the common physical
sensations of grief begin; heaviness in the
heart center, a disorganized mind, and a
general lack of energy. It is normal to be
irritable, irrational, unfocused, depressed,
tired, anxious, withdrawn, lonely, sad,
scared, and emotionally volatile. The grieving
process is a series of ups and downs with
no definitive timeline and no rationale. We
might feel angry at being suddenly alone
and forced into a change of life structure,
or outraged at the injustice of a disease,
accident, or betrayal. We may also fear our
own impending mortality or further loss of
others close to us.
We need to be gentle with ourselves when
grieving, accepting all our feelings. This is
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Love
TRANSMUTING
GRIEF TO
At the same time that we are feeling our
natural human feelings, we can recognize
that they only exist because we are grieving
for ourselves, our loss, what we miss, our
attachment, rather than for the one who has
www.AspireMAG.net | February / March 2018