What if grief isn't just pain,
But a doorway into deeper consciousness?
A few months ago,
I lost a beloved pet unexpectedly.
I still struggle talking about it.
I miss him daily.
And he got sick very quickly.
He was sweet and gentle and truly a gift to our family.
We thought we'd have way more time with him.
But in the final days of his life,
I didn't realize how sick he was.
I thought it was just a change in food.
I thought he'd get better.
But he got weaker.
And the morning he passed,
He couldn't breathe well.
And looking back,
I can see he hadn't been breathing well.
And I didn't even realize it.
He died in our arms on the way to the vet.
And what followed wasn't just sadness.
It was guilt.
This feeling that I should have seen it sooner.
That I should have done more.
That he deserved better for me.
That I was too distracted or too selfish.
And even now,
Months later,
Waves of grief still rise up unexpectedly.
Not just grief for what happened,
But for how I failed.
Even questions about my own value as a human.
So here's the thing.
Grief isn't just about losing something.
It's about what that loss awakens in us.
Regret,
Helplessness,
Lack of control,
Self-doubt.
Grief cracks us open and confronts us with our deepest illusions of control.
And in the framework of consciousness,
Grief reveals the places where we are still trying to rewrite our past.
Where our heart refuses to accept what is.
It shows us how deeply we love,
But also how deeply we fear being the cause of suffering.
So maybe part of grief's purpose isn't to punish us.
Maybe it's here to humble us.
To remind us how fragile and precious that life is.
To awaken our compassion,
Not just for others,
But for ourselves.
Even the parts of us that missed the signs.
Even the parts that weren't perfect.
So grief in this way becomes sacred.
Not just sorrow,
But an invitation to sit with all that's unresolved within us.
To become more conscious.
To become more human.
And maybe through that,
To even become more whole.
