Grief Is A Resting Place

When experiencing loss and processing grief, there is a need for a resting place. A place that receives with patience, holds the emotional space, and offers relief. A resting place is a place without the expectation of having to move or engage in a certain way.

Space requires energy and effort. Carrying the space for feeling, thinking, and being asks a lot when grieving and experiencing loss. Grieving and walking with loss depletes emotional reserves most days, and minimal space is left to recoup. Some days, there are hopefully pockets of moments, and sunshine cast through the cloudy haze. These are cherished moments, because the process of grieving and carrying loss requires much.

That ‘muchness’ is the tiredness, exhaustion, weariness, and detachment from the everyday. The everyday demands things, and things offer more pressure than presence.

Imagine a garden. A creek side, pond, meadow, or a backway trail. Both in heart and actual space. Picture a space that cultivates, nourishes, and works in seasons. The resting place receives the emotional space, without expectation, as a form of relief, and in the comfort of its holding form, offers respite.

Return to the resting place.

What is sown in a season of grief and loss? Seems like nothing. Blossoms sprout in spring, as much as growth lies dormant in winter. There’s the full and ripe summer and the grace of transition in fall. Nature teaches that cycles come and go, as do the experiences and cycles of grief and loss. The way is being at rest and at peace with resting, especially when feeling ‘muchness’ in a tender time or finding its return in another season.

To be still and to be without reserve. Take refuge in a resting place and be received when you need to go and be there.