changeThere are so many times life asks us to step up and adapt to something new. To adapt to change.

Some change is mostly joyful:

A new baby. A child going to school. An empty nest that means the launch of a child into adulthood. A new job representing new hope. A new home.

And then there’s the other kind of change. The ones that challenge us at our deepest core. That require us to adapt in ways we don’t want to or might even resist.

Death.

Illness.

Anyone who loses a loved one, as I have this season, knows the big change is the void that remains, that space that our loved one took up in our lives.

And those who are challenged by serious illness know that in the heartbeat it takes to get a diagnosis, a new path opens up and it’s fraught with anxiety.

The challenge of the new path in front of us

These things challenge our core beliefs–what we have said we believe in.

Those of us who believe in life after life now have to contend with the transition of a loved one. We say we’ll see them again, but really, we want them here, with us now.

Those of us who believe that life goes on have to address our belief that life here and its troubles, like disease, are transitory.

Yes, some changes challenge our deepest beliefs.

I believe in wallowing in it

It’s important to wallow in our sadness or grief–I know, you probably didn’t expect me to write that. But we really have to feel it to walk through it and there’s no way to avoid walking through it. We can do it now or we can do it later, but we will walk through our sadness. So sob and scream and rail at fate or God however long you have to.

(I hate this stage: crying in the shower, bursting into tears every time I think “he used to…”, my face puffy and red and sad all the time. Sobbing when someone expresses sympathy. But eventually, one day, it ends. It took a way long time to walk through it after my mother passed. But I did walk through it.)

And when you’re ready, begin to think.ย  Because we’re made up of both thinking (cognitive) and emotion (grief expressions).

Thinking guide:

Think about your core beliefs about spirituality and consider how those beliefs relate to what you are going through now. What perspective do they lend?

Do you believe in more than what we see and feel here on earth? Do you believe that there is an afterlife in which you will be healed and whole?ย  Do you believe you will see your loved ones again there? Do you pray for strength to get through treatment and setbacks?

I’ve found these thoughts a safe haven for the times when myย  heart hurts so badly because of the change demanded of me I think I’ll never get over it. I’ve tested my core beliefs and as it turns out, they really ARE a comfort.

But only when I’m ready.

I’d love for you to share so others, like me, may benefit: what’s your experience?

I hope you’ll visit the gifts section at A Healing Spirit and take advantage of the very low prices on gifts that can help those being asked to walk a new path of healing or grief.

 

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