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!
GRIEF: Angel Birthdays: What’s your grief volume?
Grief is hard. Grief is long. Grief is all-consuming. It is this grief trifecta that makes it incredibly challenging to see beyond ourselves and that is OK. Healing from this place is part of the journey, part of the challenge and where you discover you are stronger and more resilient than you ever knew. But how do we know exactly where we are on our grief path? We take a look at our volume of grief. And it just so happens that the definition of volume is the amount of the 3-dimensional space an object...
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We’ve all been in that place. That dreadful lonely place of grief where we find ourselves feeling like no one could possibly feel as lonely, or as sad or as hurt as we feel in this precise moment. It happens to all of us. But what if I told you that one simple act could help remedy you from this feeling and eject you from this place faster than you could ever imagine? Well, here it is… Take a moment and do something kind for someone else. I’m not sure if it’s the adrenal rush, or the pouring in of the...
read moreGRIEF: The List: Healing your grief two minutes at a time #53
Hello, Beautiful Person! Welcome back to “Healing Your Grief Two Minutes at a Time”. This week we are getting down and dirty with our grief work. Some weeks are lighter assignments. This will not be one of them… but the payoff will be worth it. It was my birthday this week! 🙂 It was filled with lots of fun festivities and celebrations but my grieving heart still found me through the bustle of the chaotic fun. I found myself wishing my parents were still here to celebrate alongside me, to be a part of...
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Hello Beautiful Person! Welcome Back to Healing your Grief 2 Minutes at a Time! This week’s tip goes out to all the front line supporters of all the grieving hearts out there. Grief doesn’t just affect one person. Those who are grieving have so many people around them that care for them and want more than anything to take their pain away. To help ease that pain, we do exactly what we are supposed to do. We witness their grief. We allow them to tell their story over and over and over again because that is what will heal...
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Whether you are grieving or not, this week’s tip will probably be one of the most helpful and useful tips you will ever learn and use. All of us have been in circumstances where we must be around people we are not fond of or who trigger us in some way. So, what do we do? We could certainly sit there and scowl at them or stand there avoiding eye contact but what does that do for our own hearts? What if I told you there was something you could do that would feel empowering, strong and great for your heart? You know what you can...
read moreCreating your Heart Masterpiece: Healing your grief 2 minutes at a time #50
Two weeks ago, we cut out our paper Valentine’s hearts and wrote down everything we loved about our loved one. I asked you to keep the exterior of the cutout for the special project we’re going to do today. I want you to hold the cutout up and take a good look at it and ask this simple question: Am I left with an empty heart or the canvas to create my very own Heart Masterpiece? It’s a small shift in thinking but it is powerful. Are we going to focus on the paper and the paper heart that is no longer there or...
read moreGRIEF: Write your first Valentine to yourself: Healing Your Grief 2 Minutes at a time #49
This Valentine’s Day, let’s all write our first Valentine to ourselves. Why you may ask? We need to prime our own pump first. Let me explain. Years ago, I took my children to a petting zoo with my mom. There, in the dirt, stood an old-fashioned water pump. Naturally, I had my daughters attempt to push the metal lever to extract the water from the ground. After countless attempts, I’d resolved that the pump was just broken and it was time to move onto the goats. However my mom who born in the South and, I swear, knew...
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It’s February. It’s the month that is defined by love, hearts, valentines and candy. But how do we celebrate a month dedicated to love when we are grieving and don’t quite feel very loving ourselves? We begin with recognizing one simple fact: We only grieve for the ones we have truly loved. And since we do truly love them, then we are going to take this moment and truly grieve for them too. We are going to create the most perfect, heart-felt, intimate Valentine describing everything we love about our...
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It’s the end of January 2015 already!!! All month long there have been countless posts, suggestions and articles on the importance of decluttering this month so that we can clear the way for the wonderful abundance that is going to arrive this year. But what if we are grieving the loss of a loved one or a relationship? What if we don’t want to clean out their closet? What if we still want to hold onto our beloved’s most cherished items? Of course we want abundance in our lives, so what are we supposed to...
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So often, we find ourselves in situations where our mind spirals out of control, and before we know it, we’re at the bottom of a mental rabbit hole filled with fear, sadness and loneliness. This week, we are going to find a personal mantra for ourselves that we can lean on like a good friend. We are going to use that mantra to help keep us from falling into that deep dark hole. By definition, a mantra is a phrase, word or slogan that is mind protecting. It helps us stay focused not only in prayer and meditation,...
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