July 22 2019

By: Jackie Hook
Monday, July 22, 2019

Life goes on, how do you? James was right. I was grieving, not the loss of a loved one, but the loss of how I used to look and my life before basal cell carcinoma. With the invitation from James that this could be a good thing, I paid careful attention to my experience and learned that:

  • We can heal from emotional wounds like we do physical ones. The healing comes from the inside out in some miraculous way and we need to take care of ourselves so it can happen.
  • We need to listen to our bodies and heed their call as long as it isn’t unhealthy. Cry and laugh as we feel the emotions.
  • The healing takes a lot longer than we want.
  • Out of nowhere, we can feel pain as we heal. In grief we call these griefbursts.
  • Reach out for help and support. I needed several additional treatments over the next few years to minimize the scarring. Counselors, grief companions, clergy and support groups can all be important on the grief journey.
  • You are not the same person as you were before and you end up with scars.
  • Life goes on, how do you? You do your best to take care of yourself, listen to your body, seek support from others and take baby steps.
  • You never forget but you make life new again.

I also leaned on the words of Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Leave a comment
Name*:
Email:
Comment*:

Comments

Please wait

Previous Posts

September 18 2023

Author Terry Patten wrote, “In truth, the heart must crack open if the soul is to become free. And you simply cannot think your way into that.” Loss cracks our hearts open and grieving is how we he...

September 11 2023

It’s impossible for me to see today’s date and not think about the horrific events that happened on this day in 2001. My family and I were living in Yardley, Pennsylvania, at the time and my husban...

September 4 2023

This month our theme is “Surrender Your Soul.” The word soul can be very intimidating. What is it? Where is it? And how do I connect with it? There are no definitive answers to those questions, but...

August 28 2023

–  I’ll share this poem as we close out our discussion of “Death Is the Memory of the Living.”  At least from my perspective, our lives are so full of dead people that any sane way of li...

August 21 2023

One of the quotes that I think of in reference to this month’s theme of “Death Is the Memory of the Living” is Thomas Campbell’s quote, “To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die.” A few wee...

August 14 2023

Thinking about our theme of “Death Is the Memory of the Living,” I’m so grateful for Continuing Bonds Theory. This theory recognizes that a death does not end a relationship. It’s healthy and even ...

August 7 2023

Our theme this month is “Death Is the Memory of the Living.” What this means to me is the living carry the memories of both the life and death of their loved ones. Sometimes these memories are comf...

July 31 2023

To close out this month’s theme of “Yield to Your Grief Journey,” I invite you to let the words of this poem by Padraig Ó Tuama wash over you: To greet sorrow today does not mean that sorrow will ...

July 24 2023

As we’ve been talking about our theme “Yield to Your Grief Journey,” I’ve been encouraging movement toward grief. Please know that sometimes it’s okay to take a break from grief. In fact, the Dual ...

July 17 2023

As we continue with our theme of “Yield to Your Grief Journey,” I want to talk about the word yield. The etymology of the word yield is Old English: "to pay, pay for; reward, render; worship, serve...