HUG Corner: Thought for the Week 3/19/18
March 19, 2018
Healing After Loss (Martha Whitmore Hickman)
“To fashion an inner story of our pain carries us into the heart of it, which is where rebirth inevitably occurs.”
-Sue Monk Kidd
“How to do this? And why?
Some people keep a journal – a useful tool in any event – but maybe especially now, when our lives are apt to be in emotional turmoil. To write down whatever is preoccupying us – snatches of memory, accounts of daily grief and confusion – not only helps us identify and sort out what is happening, but puts all of that in a safe, recorded place where we can get back to it if we want. To write it down relieves of the need to carry it around in our head all the time.
Some write down stories from the life of the loved one. A dear friend spent several months following his wife’s death writing down the story of their courtship, more than sixty-five years ago. It was not only a beautiful story – and a prospective treasure for close family members – but, as he said, ‘It helped me keep in touch with her.’
The fashioning of the inner story will help make order of the chaos into which grief often plunges us – and may even reward us with treasures!”