There are so many people I love experiencing the grief of loss right now. Husbands losing wives, sons losing fathers, mothers losing children, communities losing leaders, nations losing artists.
Today is the funeral for a precious friend’s beloved father. She and her family will have thousands of people in attendance offering sympathy and support and sharing in grief. And yet, as today’s Gratitude Twenty Four Seven insight reminds us, the “process of grieving is a solo journey.”
A Path for Processing
The labyrinth is a powerful physical symbol of the journey of life. We all travel the same path, passing others entering as we exit. All of our endings are also beginnings.
If you think of the labyrinth as a metaphor for the journey of grief, you can trust its path to take you through the process.
You will meander back and forth without being able to see the whole design. When it seems like you are close to the empty center where you can release, you might enter a turn leading back out toward the outer edge. Eventually you reach the middle and, trusting there is a plan, use the road you just followed to bring you out again.
By putting one foot in front of the other.
How have you used the labyrinth for grieving? Do you have any rituals to share?