| Have you lost someone so special you feel you | | | | your specific loss, lighting a candle with your loss in |
| can never be happy again? I ask this question | | | | mind, having a cry. Also, try writing your longings |
| because sooner or later we will all be hit with a | | | | in a private journal; your expressed feelings are |
| loss we think we cannot bear. No one escapes it. | | | | crucial to making it through your dark night of the |
| Consider the recent death of Senator Ted | | | | soul. Consider doing something for someone else |
| Kennedy. During his life he looked grief and | | | | like bringing an elderly relative or neighbor a pot of |
| personal tragedy in the eye many times. The | | | | soup or a delicious treat. Maybe take a lonelier |
| Senator, as other giants before him, will be | | | | person to church, temple or synagogue. And if |
| missed. His family, as all families, will have to wrap | | | | you have children or grandchildren ... oh, the joy to |
| themselves around their monumental loss, cling | | | | hug them. If you have a mate or a friend ... turn |
| together, and go forward. They and we know | | | | toward them, not against them. |
| that no one can ever take the place of the | | | | Third, pray for the grace and courage to accept |
| beloved deceased person. | | | | your now life. You will probably go through the |
| As humans, we wonder if we can ever | | | | stages of grief and loss (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, |
| overcome the pain and loss we feel. We doubt | | | | Depression, and Acceptance) more than once, but |
| we can go on and find hope again. But we can | | | | remember to reflect more on your many present |
| and these are my suggestions to help. | | | | blessings and less so on your past sorrows. I |
| First, make the decision to live which means you | | | | know it's hard but you can do it, you really can. |
| get out of bed every day and put your feet | | | | Dear Friends, there is an appointed time for |
| down on the floor. Your life is a gift even if you | | | | everything and we must surrender to it. "A time |
| don't feel that way right now. Be grateful for | | | | for every purpose under the heavens. A time to |
| your life, even the sad parts, for pain opens the | | | | be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a |
| heart more fully. Also, others who love and | | | | time to uproot the plant...a time to heal...A time to |
| depend on you need you there physically, | | | | weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a |
| emotionally and spiritually. | | | | time to dance." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4) |
| Second, allow yourself time to grieve your loss | | | | Yes, there is a time to hope again and this is the |
| every day - not every single moment, mind you - | | | | time, the time to Make Every Day Matter. |
| but actively by taking a walk and meditating on | | | | |