Life sometimes brings us bad news.
We can feel heavy from loss.
Pain and suffering seem so hard to feel.
These challenging emotions just bring us down.
They make us want to not continue.
To hide away and just give up.
WE ENDURE SO MUCH THAT FEELS SO BAD THAT WE JUST WANT IT TO STOP.
That desire can often lead us into unsupportive and unproductive behaviors.
Sometimes we fall into the trap of addiction because of it.
The self-destructive habits form that are then so hard to change.
It can seem like life is just not worth living and we don’t know why we continue.
WHY HAS LIFE BROUGHT US SO MUCH PAIN AND LOSS?
Yet there is another way to experience these emotions.
There are more choices that we haven’t recognized.
Some of them may seem counter-intuitive.
And indeed they are ways we would have never thought of on our own.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE TURNED AROUND AND INSTEAD OF FEARING OUR GRIEF WE CELEBRATED IT?
How different would we feel if we sang about it, danced about it, or laughed about it?
There are so many different ways to approach grief.
Mourning our losses is just one way.
WE CAN ALSO HONOR THOSE WE HAVE LOST WITH UPLIFTING STORIES ABOUT THEM.
Or we create songs and sing about our pain and heartache.
Perhaps even creating our own rituals as a way of processing and facing our grief with an energy of honor and acceptance.
Imagine sitting around a campfire while we dance and sing as a way of letting our pain go into the fire.
How would that feel to you?
THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS WE CAN CELEBRATE OUR LOSS WITHOUT MINIMIZING IT OR TRIVIALIZING IT.
By bringing a more active energy to the process of mourning we can honor those who have passed while releasing the pain we feel.
And this celebration not only helps us to deal with the pain, it helps the whole community.
The heaviness and the weight of loss can be transmuted into something else.
Something lighter.
Even something more joyful.
AND IN THE PROCESS WE BUILD A NEW WAY FOR THE WHOLE COMMUNITY TO HEAL.
That is truly something worth celebrating.
Can you learn to celebrate grief in your life?
~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant
Host of The Conscious Consultant Hour
