When Joy Feels Like Betrayal

This meditation is for those who notice guilt or resistance when life begins to move forward after loss. It gently explores the feeling that healing, ease, or joy might mean forgetting or betraying what was loved. Through quiet awareness, you're guided to recognize this resistance as loyalty rather than failure, and to understand that joy and remembrance can coexist.

A steady practice for carrying love forward while allowing life to continue.

Formerly titled: When Moving Forward Feels Wrong After Loss

Transcript

Welcome to Be With Melinda.

I'm glad you're here.

Settle your body in a way that feels steady and supported.

Take one slow breath in through the nose and release it gently through the mouth.

Again.

Take a slow breath in through the nose and release it gently through the mouth.

There is a moment in grief when life begins to move again and something inside resists.

Not because you are stuck,

But because moving forward can feel like forgetting or worse like betrayal.

If this is familiar,

You're not doing grief wrong.

You're feeling loyalty.

You're expressing loyalty.

Bring to mind the feeling that arises when things start to improve.

Relief,

Ease,

Even moments of joy.

Notice what follows.

Guilt,

Hesitation,

A tightening that says,

I shouldn't feel this yet.

Simply notice.

You do not need to correct it.

Silently acknowledge this resistance comes from love.

Moving forward does not mean moving on.

It does not mean leaving anyone behind.

It means carrying what mattered into a life that continues to unfold.

Grief does not disappear when you take steps ahead.

It changes how it walks beside you.

Bring awareness to the center of the chest.

Imagine forward movement,

Not as distance,

But as inclusion.

What you loved remains part of you.

Even as your life expands.

Silently say,

I'm allowed to live without erasing what I loved.

Notice how that lands.

No need to rush agreement.

Let it rest.

You do not need permission to breathe more freely.

You do not need to justify moments of peace.

Love is not measured by suffering.

And remembrance does not require you to stay still.

As we close,

Rest in this truth.

Moving forward does not diminish love.

It honors that love shaped you and still does.

Thank you for practicing with me.

May you be blessed with the permission to move forward gently.

Faithful to what has been.

And open to what continues.

Take one final breath in and release it slowly.

Return when you're ready.