My daughter takes Spanish at her Catholic school. Her Spanish instructor does a short unit on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in October. My daughter and I have talked about the Day of the Dead for a while and, because we talk about our dead family members quite a bit, she askedContinueContinue reading “Making a Simple Dia De Los Muertos Ofrenda”
Tag Archives: healing
Year 11: Reclaiming My Strength
Eleven years. Here we go again… After watching Stranger Things, I almost feel like eleven years should hold something magical and otherworldly, lifesaving, sacrificing, or revelatory. What does eleven years feel like? Fresh. Still raw. Still hurt. Still missing a chunk of myself. I find myself thinking “I need to call my mom” more andContinueContinue reading “Year 11: Reclaiming My Strength”
Birthday Blahs
It’s my birthday month, and my birthday daughter’s birthday month. My mom has been gone for over nine years, and I still hate this month. I don’t like my birthday anymore. This grief calendar thing is so real. Every September, I feel it, sometimes more acutely than others. I felt bad a few days ago,ContinueContinue reading “Birthday Blahs”
Monday Meditation: Within the Grief Winter, There Lives a Summer
In the midst of winter’s grief, there are signs of spring. Though it’s a struggle, we’re reminded of the “invincible summer” within us. Winter prepares us for the bold and beautiful summers ahead. As the season wanes, it’s time to contemplate and nurture the seeds of invincibility within ourselves for the coming summer.
Monday Meditation: Persevering
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” -Walter Elliot Grief isn’t just one experience that hangs out for a bit and then disappears. Grief is a very long road broken up into shorter segments that piggyback onto one another for the remainder of a griever’s life. OutsidersContinueContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Persevering”
Monday Meditation: Step On In
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” -Rabindranath Tagore Grief is huge. It’s an ocean. If we stopped to contemplate what was living in every nook and cranny of the ocean and what could happen to us if we went to varying depths, we might become paralyzed. Grief hasContinueContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Step On In”
8 Years…
March 5 marked eight years since my mother’s death. This was a rough year. Year eight was one of the worst emotional years I’ve had in five years. And it was the year I succeeded in doing something my mother spoke of doing but could not. This was a year of shedding more of theContinueContinue reading “8 Years…”
Monday Mediation: Rest Slowly
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” -Confucius Rest plus quiet does not equal stopping. It means going slowly. In the act of lying fallow, the ground continues to engage life as the soil replenishes its nutrients and prepares itself for planting again. The action is happeningContinueContinue reading “Monday Mediation: Rest Slowly”
Monday Meditation: Quiet Reconnection
“Learn to be quiet enough to hear the genuine within yourself so that you can hear it in others.” -Marian Wright Edelman Learning to sit in quiet is a skill that takes time to develop. The noise outside is loud and often penetrates deep inside us, making it hard to shut off. The noise canContinueContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Quiet Reconnection”
Monday Meditation: Quiet Matters
“When you quiet your mind, you can enter a world of clarity, peace and understanding.” -Alice Coltrane Quiet is more than just the absence of noise. Quiet is a state of being that helps suppress distracting intrusions so that the right sounds can become loud and clear. For grievers, quiet is a golden elephant thatContinueContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Quiet Matters”
Monday Meditation: A New Year Rest
“Rest when you are weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” -Ralph Marston December used to be an exciting month, a tiring one, but one filled with the energy of holiday electricity. The final week of the year used to be a time when I wouldContinueContinue reading “Monday Meditation: A New Year Rest”
A Year For Rest
I am so happy to see 2022 go…it was a difficult year full of exhausting experiences and habits that I would not like to continue…ever. The year was full of family health traumas (I do know that for the people directly affected by these health issues, the year was far more stressful and exhausting) whichContinueContinue reading “A Year For Rest”
7 Years
Today is the seventh anniversary of my mother’s death. Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com The week comes, as it always does, with a physical heaviness that just makes me tired. I want to lie down more than usual. I’m not emotional, per se, just…tired. The past year has been spent in pandemic and thought.ContinueContinue reading “7 Years”
Monday Mediation: Start Simply.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”-Arthur Ashe A pitfall of life is getting caught up in the race to be more, be ahead of the game, be pushing for the next whatever, be comparing ourselves to the past…essentially occupying any moment other than the present. Grief doesn’t mesh withContinueContinue reading “Monday Mediation: Start Simply.”
Monday Meditation: Tend the Grief Garden
“I always see gardening as an escape, as peace really. If you are angry or troubled, nothing provides the same solace as nurturing the soil.” -Monty Don The work of healing grief can be like growing a garden. Plants and flowers need water, sunlight, and plenty of weeding to grow and thrive. When you first plantContinueContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Tend the Grief Garden”