HUG Corner – Thought for the Week 4/24/17

April 24, 2017

from “Healing After Loss” Martha Whitmore Hickman

“Go in all simplicity; do not be anxious to win a quiet mind, and it will be all the quieter. Do not examine so closely into the progress of your soul. Do not crave so much to be perfect, but let your spiritual life be formed by your duties, and by the actions which are called forth by circumstances. Do not take over much thought for tomorrow. God, who has led you safely on so far, will lead you on to the end.”

– Francis De Sales

So much goes churning through our mind when we are recovering from grief: our memories of our loved one, the circumstances of death, how we felt and behaved at the time of death and in the ensuing days. We want to be “good grievers”—which may mean giving full expression to our grief so it won’t stay there undigested in our hearts. Other times a kind of numbness takes over, and we wonder about that—what’s the matter with me that I can’t cry?

This taking of our emotional temperature can be exhausting. If we feel we are being too introspective, we can try to shut that off for a while—go for a walk, watch some lightweight television show, do something that requires mental concentration so we don’t assess how our spirits are, moment by moment.

I’m doing fine, just the way I am. Now I’ll forget about it for a while.

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