The most startling thing about heartbreak is
…noticing that the world didn’t actually end. *
After my dear friend died I’d sit and look at the mountains and wonder why they were still standing. Why the sun came up and went down without her. Why the world’s still there. She died Dec.27, 2015 and I last saw her that Christmas Eve.
It was snowing like crazy that Christmas Eve in 1999 we buried my mother, so cold I wished my grief would freeze and I could break it apart like ice. But I couldn’t. It stuck with me a long time. It’s still there, really. Holidays are difficult.
This is the hard truth about life: it’s full of loss and loss means heartbreak. Parents who have lost children. Children who have lost parents. Widows and widowers. Everything with a beginning also has an ending, says Jack Kornfeld, and our peace of mind comes from being ok with that.
Easier said than done. Grief holds on tight, sometimes for a very long time. Our feelings remain long after our living loved ones want to hear about them.
Holidays are hard for many who grieve even if they didn’t lose loved ones at that time.
And that’s exactly why I wrote the Guided Journal Through Grief: to provide a safe place to share all the feelings that remain. Our grief, our guilt (if any), our regrets and also our happy times together.
Each page has a prompt that you can respond to by writing, drawing, painting or even do a mini collage. Or it has a simple activity or a meditation.
For years I searched for a condolence gift that was supportive but not complicated. That didn’t have a shelf life, like flowers. Or didn’t seem celebratory like a fruit basket. I couldn’t find one, so I created it.
Our large condolence gift includes the guided journal, a deck of 50 gentle grief “affirmations” meant to help transform grief (because it never goes away), a pretty heart shaped mini-candle and an Apache tear grief stone, which has helped me tremendously in my own grief. $34.99
Our small condolence gift includes the 50-card deck and the heart-shaped candle. $19.99
Both are gentle, supportive, affordable and those who get them say they really do help.
This Christmas it’s my mission to get these helpful tools in the hands of those who really need them. So if you know someone who is grieving, why not send them this gentle support? We ship and provide your short message on a gift tag.
Find them and more at our gift tab.
Quote from Bloom for Yourself by April Green and this is an affiliate link.
Grief can truly take over your life if you don’t stare it down and face it.
You’re right that the holidays can be difficult. Both of my parents died within two weeks of each other in Nov and Dec. But, life goes on.
Yes, grief is all around us, if not in our own lives, then in others we care about. Thanks for being a beacon of comfort in troubling times.
Your words are so comforting and lovely.
Thank you so much, Beth. Grief is hard.
Again, you guide. We follow. Beautiful, Carol!
You are too kind!