Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for teaching me one of my most important life lessons- the importance of celebration. You celebrated EVERYTHING! There was always a reason to throw on Neil Diamond or your most recent 45 and have a spontaneous dance party in our living room. Upon winning my school election, I came home to a celebratory sign on our garage door. Every school success or failure was honored in some way- ranging from a choice of dinner to a silly home-made certificate telling me to get ‘em next time. I was traveling when I received my college acceptance letter, and you even wrote a poem just to tell me the news over the phone. At the Father Daughter dance at my sorority, you surprised me with our sorority letters in glitter on your cummerbund!!! I can’t thank you enough for all of your love and for showing me by example the importance of celebration.
As you can tell, it honestly did not matter how big or small the event, our family celebrated everything.
All of these celebrations were a blast, but more than it just being fun, these celebrations made me feel special and important. This positive reinforcement in our home allowed me to take more risks outside of our house because I knew I could home to a celebration, regardless of the outcome. There is no better way to handle life than through celebration.
It is no wonder then that I have found a way to turn the loss of my parents into an Angel Birthday celebration. It is the only way I can truly honor them. They loved a great party! I feel like it’s why I was supposed to have a childhood of crazy celebrations- it needed to be ingrained in me so I could find a way to bring the love and light of celebration into the darkness of grief.
My Dad was amazing and I want to celebrate him and all of the fathers out there today. None of this would be possible without you. I toast you and hope all of you enjoy your special day. Keep your party shoes on and remember that life is always worth celebrating! Happy Father’s Day!
The why and the “how to” on listening to our hearts.
Grief is so long and so arduous and constantly surprises us at our most unsuspecting moments. I’ve often thought to myself, as I’m sure so many of us here have too, how can I speed this process up? Well, your heart is going to be your grief’s pace setter and it is going to set the speed that is right for you. Your heart knows what is best for you. This is so important that it’s worth repeating again: Your heart knows what is best for you. It will set the pace. It will hurt when it is time. It will heal...
read moreDoes being in your home feel exhausting, depressing or heavy? This one easy trick can help!
Has the energy in your home felt heavy lately? Does being in your home make you feel more sad or depressed? Do you feel “stuck” in your chores? Unmotivated to get anything done? Well if so, you are not alone! I felt that way this week too. The energy in my home felt so heavy that I felt like I’d never get ahead of the laundry, dishes, paperwork or unpacking. Just sitting in my home felt heavy, sad and depressing because so much was piled up. We’re trying so hard to get our life back to normal after all of this...
read moreOur angels are always watching over us!
The past few weeks have been really intense and filled with lots and lots and lots of work- both manual and mental labor. I met with one of my spiritual advisors on Monday and she told me to stop and spend some good quality time with my family. Drop the many pressures for a little while and really be present with my family. After dinner this week, we decided to go on a family walk and you will never believe what we saw directly above us during our family time together. The angels decided to join us for our family walk...
read moreDo you wake up at 3 a.m. every night? What is your body telling you?
Do you wake up every night between 3-5 a.m.? You are not alone. Many grieving people do. But do you know why? Grief energy resides in our lungs. It’s why we can’t seem to catch a full breath or feel like a weight is on our chest. It’s why we find ourselves sighing all the time after losing a loved one. It’s not just because we’re sad. Our sadness actually creates energy that settles on our lungs. This heavy energy causes sighing, a heaviness on our chest, asthma or an increase in respiratory...
read moreYou can only give from overflow
I’m “over” it this week! I’m overtired, overworked and overwhelmed. We have lived out of our house for three weeks while doing mold renovation, unearthed our entire backyard to put a French drain in to prevent future mold, and are being presented with all new work circumstances. To say the least, it has put some serious strain on every aspect of my life. But my point of oversharing the craziness of the month is to point out how we can have our own set of “overs” in our own lives, whether or not we are...
read moreThe power of our words
Have you ever thought about the words you say to others? Or more importantly the words you say to yourself? If you think your words don’t matter, it’s time to think again. Dr. Emote conducted a science experiment where he spoke words to water molecules and subsequently documented what happened to these molecules as they crystallized. The results were astonishing! When positive words were spoken to the water molecules, they turned into beautiful crystals. When negative words were spoken to the water molecules, the water turned dark...
read moreWhat’s your heart song?
There are days that are just messy. There are some weeks that are just messy. This is one of those weeks for me. But what I’m finding is that… We can use that messiness to our advantage. We can take all that messiness and use it to heal parts of our hearts we didn’t even realize needed healing. It’s usually these precise messy moments that do the very best job of cracking us open and getting us into the prime place to cry, purge and heal. What if we had a tool that could help maximize that healing...
read moreHow can we help bring our angels into our dreams?
Have you ever wished and asked for a loved one to come and visit you in your dream only to be visited by someone else or by no one at all? We beg our loved ones to visit and then end up with nothing. It can feel incredibly disheartening, sad and frustrating. What if there was a way to improve your chances on getting your loved one to show up in your dreams? This week, we are going to talk about how our loved ones come and visit us in our dreams and how they follow a divinely organized process. Our loved ones’ energies live in our hearts...
read moreThe Journal and Burn
Here are three grief facts about me: 1) I’ve attended more grief groups than I can tally. 2) I’ve become a certified Minister of Consolation through the Archdiocese of San Francisco 3) I’ve logged more personal grief hours than I ever imagined possible for one human being. But whether I was attending the grief group, leading the grief group or walking my own private journey, this one consistent fact has remained true. We must tell our story over and over and over again in order to heal our broken hearts. You...
read moreCompassionate Listening
So often when our loved ones are grieving around us, we don’t know what to do. We want to do the right thing, say the right thing and be that person that they need, but we often just don’t know what to do. We’re taking care of that this week and it is much easier than you may realize. Be the brave one at the door. They just need someone to listen deeply and compassionately. Thich Nhat Hanh describes compassionate listening so beautifully. He says, “You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her...
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