Debunking the Myths of Grief: A Path Towards Healing

Debunking the Myths of Grief: A Path Towards Healing

Grief is an inevitable part of the human experience, but it's often misunderstood and surrounded by myths that can hinder the healing process. It’s natural to crave a concrete guide to navigate the tremendous impact of loss, but this is where the perpetuation of myth often begins. While understanding “stages and strategies” can be helpful, I invite you to consider that hidden in the pain of grief, inside your own body and knowing, is a beautifully unique pathway to healing and personal growth.

Self-Compassion: A Practice that Promotes Healing

Self-Compassion: A Practice that Promotes Healing

Self-compassion helps us to move toward self-regulation and healing. Self-compassion has been documented in hundreds of studies as a practice that can build resilience and combat depression, anxiety, stress, and shame. Self-compassion differentiates from self-esteem in that it is not a type of self-judgment, as in, “I just got a promotion at work–I am so amazing!” It is a way of treating ourselves with loving kindness and acceptance in light of the organic ups and downs of everyday life. Whereas self-esteem is dependent on how we perform in the world and whether or not we judge that performance to be acceptable,  self-compassion enhances our ability to fully accept ourselves and treat ourselves with kindness and respect in all types of weather. 

Attunement: The Real Language of Love

Attunement: The Real Language of Love

The confusing experience of being loved and feeling invisible at the same time has a long-term impact on a person’s fundamental belief about themselves in the world. This might look like low self-esteem, struggles with self-worth, or a sense of incompleteness. We all need to be deeply known. Attunement goes beyond empathy, creating a reciprocal, unbroken, resonant connectedness. Attunement is the act of listening, deeper than a simple dialectic or exchange of words or ideas. Just like listening to music, it is deep hearing, holding, and feeling into another’s experience with our entire being.