THE GRIEFGLOW MANIFESTO: WHY THIS BLOG?

This blog finds its roots in the losses of my life and my slow, stumbling, but steady path towards healing. Of all the resources I explored when I was newly bereaved and deep in grief, the most powerful ones were those that simply shared someone else's story. The least helpful were those that either tried to fix or change me, or communicated with such mutedness and sadness they seemed to make my own sadness worse. In reacting to such times, I came up with something I called the GriefGlow manifesto, which goes as follows. I am pleased to share it and some glimpses of my journey with you. So, the GriefGlow Manifesto: Because grief is never black and white. Because healing is hard enough without coloring everything around us gray. Because we're just sad, not broken. Because we are a community, even when we feel the most alone. Because a picture is worth a thousand words when we have no words to say. Because we don't need to be changed, fixed, taught, or hurried. Because being vulnerable isn't the same as being powerless. Because our story isn't over. Because the world is as beautiful as it is painful. And because though a little bit of beauty can't change the pain today, it may help us toward healing tomorrow.



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

LOSSES AND SPRING LEAVES

I love this photograph of a cemetery monument jostled by new foliage. It's beautiful, and it "says" something true in a slightly impish way.

The true part is that our losses from the past and the new growth of the future coexist, side by side. We may not see the growth part when we are suffering the early stages of bereavement, but it's there somewhere, waiting. Waiting to nudge us with its exuberance. Waiting to give the world around us color and freshness and purpose again. Waiting to prove to us that no matter how stony our soil feels, new life will grow there.

The impish part is that new life won't always arrive in dignified ways. Sometimes it pops up right in our face, just forcing us to take notice.
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