HolistiSci

How do we navigate the inevitable—loss, grief, and the fleeting nature of the connections we hold most dear? It’s a question we all face, often in the quiet moments when fear takes hold. Read below as I explore this topic, or listen by clicking on the YouTube video below.

Loss. Grief. Those things we know are coming at some point in our lives. Those things that creep into our minds in the dark hours and steal our sleep. I remember, as a young girl, crying myself to sleep at night in fear that something would happen to my mom. We find so much security in the loved ones around us. But still, there is no guarantee that it will always be there. In fact, we are guaranteed that one day we will lose them or they will lose us.

Yet, how do we find the balance of cherishing each and every moment and time that we have with those we love versus dwelling on what may be? To me, it comes in gratitude.

Losing a parent is one thing. We know, for the most part, they will be there for us through ups and downs and always be our parent until death and beyond. I also acknowledge that this is not everyone’s experience.

That fear of loss hits differently when it’s our partner or friend. We often fear that one day, they won’t choose us. And in that way, we fear the death of that person no longer being in our lives even if they go on living. I remember listening once to a poem on NPR that a man read about their partner dying over and over – in his mind. It’s what we do when we fear the end of something. We think of the various ways something could go wrong. That’s also how we attract the very thing we hope won’t happen. It does us no good to dwell on the how or the why. I used to constantly.

Now, I focus on what I want to feel. What I want my life to look and feel like, who I want to be a part of my life, and what that relationship looks like. Then, trust the rest to the Universe to bring into alignment. In the meantime, I choose to focus on the richness of my life. And the relationships that I have. And even in the pain that they have brought me, the incredible opportunities for growth that accompanied them. That I have seized and grown from. So, no matter when a loss occurs, by death or otherwise, I can stand in gratitude for what has been. And trust that what ever will be is exactly what I need for my highest and greatest good.