Dear Friends,
Today I am going to steal (lovingly borrow) Dr. Alan Wolfelt’s entire passage from, Grief One Day at a Time, the book we use to start every support group session at Stephy’s Place, as I feel it speaks volumes to where we all may be right now:
“Some days we feel we can’t possibly go on. Living in grief is just too hard. We are mired in pain and despair. Yet somehow we go on. The earth keeps spinning. We make it through the day, and the night. And the sun rises again. We have survived. Some days that is enough. Yet even in our darkest days of just surviving, we may see glimmers of hope. We may feel tugs of connection with others. We may even experience brief twinges of joy. It is for these glimmers, tugs, and twinges that we will go on. And if we actively mourn, we can trust there will be more and more such moments in our future, until slowly they make up the bulk of our days and our grief becomes the thing that glimmers, tugs, and twinges in the background.”
I met Dr. Wolfelt a few years ago in his home state of Colorado when I attended his seminar on Suicide Grief. I find his insight on grief to be as spot-on as any I have ever encountered or read. Our Founding Director, Sheila Martello-Di Orio, has completed her Certification in Grief with Dr. Wolfelt, and she thankfully encouraged me to attend his seminar. I am thrilled we have Alan as a mentor of sorts for our Mission at Stephy’s Place; I find insights such as today’s to be food that can nourish our souls and help heal our broken hearts as we forge ahead together on this painful, lonely and difficult journey. We are together. You are not alone. Trust that there will be glimmers, tugs and twinges for sure. Stay tuned and just keep breathing as you put one foot in front of the other one day at a time, one hour at a time.
God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Peace and Serenity,
Kevin