We are here today to gather and remember.
We take this moment to pause,
To reflect,
And then to honor our loved one as well as taking a step towards healing our hearts and our lives.
David White,
A contemporary poet from Wales has said,
The human way to hope is to hope that there's a way to take a courageous step without having one's heart broken.
He then says that there is no sincere path a human can take without breaking his or her heart.
We recall that in the process of being with someone who is dying,
We're very busy with day to day needs,
The physical decline,
And the mental strain that wears us down.
Even with spiritual beliefs,
We may feel abandoned,
Angry,
And lost.
We try so hard,
And much of the time we just can't imagine giving up,
Letting go,
Or saying goodbye.
David Kessler in his book Visions,
Trips,
And Crowded Room says,
Saying goodbye is one of the hardest things to do,
But it is also one of the most important.
During the dying time when something unusual or out of the ordinary happens,
We may not have enough energy or time to really think or reflect about it.
Sometimes others will think we're going off the deep end,
Or we think our loved one is hallucinating,
Or it's probably the drugs causing this.
And yet this may be an inkling of something unseen,
Similar to the inner workings of the cocoon where the not known lies in the dark,
Biding its time to be revealed.
Susan J.
Paul,
Who has herself transitioned to a new journey,
Not here on this earthly plane,
Sings,
It's not what I see,
But what I know.
And so if we're being honest with ourselves,
If we can be honest with ourselves,
We will admit there are times in this experience that we have despaired greatly,
That we have despaired of ever having a joyous future,
Despaired over ever getting over the grief,
Despaired over ever being able to get up in the morning and do those ordinary things,
And maybe even despaired of ever having a sense of happiness in our lives again.
It's not only adjusting to our loss of our loved one,
It's adjusting to our new identity and how we will now make our way in the world.
We recognize this experience and loss has profoundly changed us.
We hope to find a way to recognize our new life,
One we didn't ask for,
One we may not have prepared for.
We face our cocoon of loss,
Our cocoon of grief,
Waiting for that moment to emerge from the dark,
Unsure of what we will look like.
We wonder if we will recognize this new self.
We too have to beat our wings,
Pausing to rest before we can fully spread our wings and fly.
And so now we reflect on the saying,
Time heals all wounds,
And we reflect on the realization that we will never forget the experience we've gone through,
We will never forget the loved one that has died,
But that as each day goes on,
Somehow we are given an opportunity to reconnect with the spark of life,
To reconnect with those little things that do bring us happiness.
And so today let us consider the grief and the loss and yes,
The despair,
The experience beyond any of our imaginations that we could ever have had the courage to go through.
And yet we realize we did go on,
Life did continue,
And that we have been given the gift of a new day and that we have been transformed and are still being transformed through and in this experience that we've had.
And so we look to continued healing,
To continued metamorphosis and transformation,
Incorporating the loved one that has gone on before us into this new life we now have.
And so in this moment,
Stop and simply breathe a gentle breath in and out,
In and out,
Taking a moment to honor our deep feelings,
Whichever feelings arise right now.
Welcome that feeling and just imagining that you are bathing it with complete love,
With the light of compassion.
Imagine as we honor these deep feelings,
We also honor our soul,
Our spirit,
Acknowledging every day that we continue.
We allow ourselves to not only feel these feelings,
We allow ourselves to release them,
To imagine letting them go as we might let go a butterfly that we held for a moment in our hands and then gently lifting our hand up and watching the butterfly gently fly,
Let it away.
And so with those deep feelings and emotions,
We let them go.
We let them go so that we may continue to lift higher hopes and our dreams for our continued journey so that we may continue to be out in the world,
To continue to give our gifts to the world and to be love and compassion in the world.
We let them go so that we do not isolate ourselves or remove ourselves from this world of pain,
But also a world of infinite beauty and joy.
And as we imagine releasing these butterflies,
As we lift our hand and open it up,
Offering up,
Envisioning those butterflies,
Those gentle wings floating,
Floating away,
That they represent hope and dreams.
Two little wings beating and yet they represent so much.
Let us continue to lift up and use our time to heal,
Our time on this earth to envision our lives going forward,
Always going forward,
Reaching out and up,
Looking to help those who are also facing loss,
Grief,
Sorrow,
Encouraging others,
But always remembering that we encourage,
Lift up and provide compassion to ourselves,
To our deepest longings and feelings,
That we honor them and that we trust that each day will continue to bring us more joy and more peace.
And so again,
Just allowing yourself to take a few more moments to breathe in gently in and out and then when you're ready,
Opening your eyes,
Returning fully present into this moment and this day.
Information.
You you you
