Thank you for joining me in this space.
Let's first connect with our breath.
Meeting on the exhale.
In through the nose,
Taking a deep breath in.
Soften the shoulders,
Hold it at the top.
And with a soft mouth,
Release the exhale.
One more through the nose.
Hold it at the top.
Melt out of the mouth.
Let it go.
Wherever this moment meets you,
I welcome you.
Here is my love letter to grief.
Grief,
You arrived like a first love.
All consuming,
Breathless.
The kind of presence I couldn't ignore if I tried.
You slipped into my bones when I wasn't ready.
And you stayed.
You undid the edges of my world.
Turned the ordinary into ash.
And left only what truly mattered.
And even then,
I didn't know how to love you for it.
But somewhere in the ache,
You lifted the veil.
You opened my senses to the unseen world.
The shimmer behind the shadow.
The whisper beneath the noise.
The way the air shifts when something sacred is near.
You didn't want me to get over it.
You didn't even want me to learn to tolerate it.
So you sweetly dragged me deeper.
Knowing I'd have to be pulled.
To the floor.
To the fire.
To the marrow.
Before I could finally see.
See that the light never really actually burns out.
You asked me for everything.
And still,
You gave me more in return.
In a world that rushes past pain.
That turns away from rawness.
That tries to fix what needs to be felt.
You are the wild,
Sacred work we cannot avoid.
You arrive when no one else will.
In a culture that barely holds space for sorrow.
You ask us to sit with the fire.
To be still in the blaze of what breaks us open.
Because of you.
Because of your fierce,
Tender presence.
We find the courage to become more whole.
You are a beacon lighting the path back to ourselves.
To call.
To reclaim what has been lost.
And to bring forth the deepest truths waiting in the shadows.
Because those who walk this path.
Who say yes to this fire.
Are not broken.
They are not missing out on the fun or the beauty.
They are becoming the ones who carry both.
The depth and the delight.
The sorrow and the song.
The truth that holds its shape in every season.
They bring back the soul gold.
They sit with others in silence that says,
Me too.
They become eyes that see what matters.
Hands that hold without fixing.
Hearts that speak in presence,
Not platitudes.
Grief.
You rearranged my entire world.
And though I once thought you'd swallow me whole.
Now I see.
One day,
You will be a thread in the tapestry.
Not the whole thing.
Just a glint of depth amongst the joy,
The beauty,
The ordinary days.
But I will never forget your voice.
Your lessons.
The way you made me softer.
Truer.
Deeper.
More me.
So this is for anyone standing at the edge.
Wondering if they'll survive the fall.
Let it take you.
Let it crack you open.
Fall all the way in.
Like a great love.
Because it is.
And it will change you.
And it will free you.
And it will show you the kind of love that never dies.
Grief is not the end.
It is the beginning of your real life.
And now I know it is up to me.
To.
Let it begin.
Thank you.
Yours in reverence,
Tegan.
Let's again meet in the exhale.
Through the nose,
Breathe in.
Let these words sit with you.
Out of the mouth,
Let it go.
