Connection Fosters Healing

Research indicates that sharing our stories and feelings of loss is beneficial both psychologically and physically.

Sharing helps to heal not only the person who is speaking but also the person who compassionately witnesses the offering. Each person gets a turn, and we all agree to stay silent unless we are the person sharing. This gives each person a chance to speak and be heard. By this point, most people in the group no longer see themselves as separate but recognize that we are one in this human experience.

You can create a sacred sharing experience with a good friend or with someone who has experienced the same loss as you.

As you open up and share your vulnerability and journey, the bond between you will deepen. That is why it is important to choose a person whom you trust, and who will be able to let you speak and be heard for an extended period of time.

Here are some examples, but don’t feel limited by this list:

• Read an excerpt from your journal. Share what has changed and what has stayed the same. This also works for drawings and illustrations in your journal.
• Play a song or read a poem that is a metaphor of your grief journey or your relationship to the person you lost.
• Write a special journal entry that describes who you are now or who you are in the process of becoming.
• Talk about a yoga pose that symbolizes where you are on the path.
• Draw two “landscape” images of your body of grief, one that illustrates your body at the beginning of your grief journey and another that illustrates your body as it is now. Discuss how your self-care practice has affected your body and your experience of grief.
• Describe an object that represents you and an object that represents the relationship you have with your loved one. Discuss the symbolism of each.