6 Months of Grief Project: Day 25

Forms of Healing

This is Day 25 of my #6MonthsOfGrief Project. To learn more about this practice, feel free to visit Day One, where I explain this project in more detail.

I'm back from a hot springs getaway with my friend whom is facing cancer. He is in a place of wanting to have maximum life experiences before he faces the treatments coming later this month, which will drain his body of energy. I am grateful to be invited on these adventures, as I too need getaways from my own life of grief.

I'm also struggling with a rotator cuff injury, which as a weightlifter is an extra big bummer. I now travel with a little machine that zaps electricity through my muscles, in order to get the blood moving and get those muscles on the track to healing and strength again. As I laid in our fancy bed this morning, feeling my muscles jump and twitch, I thought about all the different tools we use to heal our mind and bodies. There are so many paths and options to explore and try, but in the end, it all takes time. My life may be about to change in some major ways. I am trying to prepare for those changes, while at the same time, trying to be here now, in this moment. Enjoying the sunshine on my face, the smile and laugh of my friend, the feel of the hot water on my skin, and even these little electronic currents, pulsing through my sore muscles. There is only now. There is only this moment... right now.

I am very aware that this project can bring up a lot around yours or other's grief and loss, I will always follow every post with some online grief support resources that have helped me. Please feel free to let me know of online support that you have found healing in your grief, as well:

Art with Grief:

• Photographer [Sarah Treanor] Takes Moving Self-Portraits to Cope with Her Fiance's Death by Jillian Wong

• Self-Portraits: Expressing Emotion Through Art on What's Your Grief?

• The Hard Romance of Grief by Mark Liebenow

• The poetry of John O’Donohue

Resources for Widows:

• Camp Widow

• Soaring Spirits International

Living with Grief Resources:

• Grief Bibliography on Grief Healing

• Teresa “TL” Bruce's What to Say When Someone Dies
• They Brought Cookies: For A New Widow, Empathy Eases Death's Pain by Ann Finkbeiner on NPR
• A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

• Megan Devine’s Refuge in Grief

• The Geography of Sorrow: Francis Weller on Navigating Our Loses, interviewed by Tim McKee in Sun Magazine

• How to Be a Friend in Deed by Bruce Feiler in the New York Times

• 12 Things to Know About the First Year of Grieving Someone You Can’t Live Without by Laurie Costanza in Elephant Magazine

And remember, I am sharing this project on a variety of platforms, including my Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook feeds, as well as my Pinterest page on Grief. I use the hashtag #6MonthsOfGrief, so it can easily be found on any platform. Please share this project with anyone you think might need it.

Thank you, and see you tomorrow.