"Puff ball in a field" picture by Judith Hirst-Joyeux June 2008
When practicing any healing, the emotion "grief" seems to show up with regular frequency. I think this definition from Wikipedia says it all - "Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss". The loss may be for any thing or person or animal. It may even be a perceived loss, and not a loss that we would normally associate with grief. Since grief is a personal or unique response, it is hard to gage how deeply it does affect the individual. Grief carried too long without release takes the form of physical dis-eases or illnesses. Grief will manifest in lung problems. Louise Hay in her book You Can Heal Your Life talks about grief/lung problems as "fear of taking in life".
Since grief is an emotion, and in Shamanism, emotion is associated with water, the body filling up with water - lungs filling up, water around the heart - indicate that grief may be at the root of these illnesses. It seems too that grief may be inherited. When an event happens and the grief is not dealt with at the time, the grief seems to be captured and passed on at a cellular level.
Grief is very prevalent in the world and a large topic of conversation. I say "large" because the number of web sites containing the word "grief" total 28,600,000 web sites, when I did a search. It is the topic of books, prayers, poems, stories, songs, and has become a whole counselling discipline. One solution to heal grief is when the individual recognizes that it is grief they are feeling and they decide to deal with it and ease it.
The Buddhists call this part of the practice of "Mindfulness". When one is aware of the feeling/energy and stays with it, and judges it not and lets it be, it has a chance to take shape, and then the energy can be released. The saying "time heals all things" really means that we, by our choices and actions heal ourselves.
I have been mindful of the sadness that I carry over the loss of my Dad. I throw the emotion to fire, in a traditional Incan Fire Ceremony, and I cry when I feel the urge to do so. I do not stop the crying until it stops itself. I feel it to completion.
I wish for you to have the time to feel your emotions to completion.
Judith
I have a few questions. How long, then, does it take to overcome grief, or do you ever overcome it? Why does it pop up out of nowhere? If you don't grieve, does this result in karma?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Not finished grieving yet...
I am sorry for your loss. I have read that the average time to grieve is two years. Over that period, the grief and sadness diminishes. However, each of us is different. Some of us will feel it longer and harder than others.
ReplyDeleteIt pops up out of nowhere because our spirit, body, mind wants to be clear of any unfinished emotions. When we stuff our emotions away, we end up with illness.
Refusing to grieve does result in karma. Karma is not about punishment - it is about unfinished life. It is about our patterns of behaviour, our character and how we treat others, and our illnesses and injuries.
I wish you well on your journey.
Judith