Message to a Grieving Friend
For David...
"Grief is a spiritual form of open-heart surgery. Nothing rips us open, scars us and heals us more than loss and trauma, and nothing brings us more valuable soul expansion. The unexpected death of a loved one changes us permanently and profoundly, and because we are never truly separated from those who have crossed over, their deaths invite us to enter new worlds along with them.
Grief shakes us loose from our spiritual lethargy. When we recognize our losses as openings rather than wounds, we find that there are hidden gifts in releasing our assumptions about life being safe and predictable. If we nurture that opening, if we honor it and work with it, stretching and strengthening it a little bit each day, we can discover previously unimagined worlds of wisdom, and choose enlightenment over annihilation.
Every one of us who's had a life-shattering loss experience has, on a soul level, asked grief to transform us, though on the ego/personality level, we are not aware of having made this request."
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This month, I dedicate these words to my friend and colleague, David Kessler, one of the world's leading bereavement experts. Earlier this month, David's 21 year-old son died suddenly, initiating David into that dreadful world that nobody consciously chooses to visit... the world of parents who've experienced the death of a child. As a card-carrying member of that world myself, I offer David my deepest love and heartfelt support.
Many blessings to you and yours on this journey David. May love and light surround you and yours.