Grief, Sorrow, Joy, and Soul

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Dear reader,

There is sadness in life and then there are sorrows — some sorrows for which there are no words. Sometimes it almost seems as if it is easier to think of yourself as dead and now living in an alternate universe — only then does it feel that the events of your life make sense, only then does the unimaginable become imaginable. How else could life continue on like this?

There are some sorrows that stay with you a long time — they sink deep into your bones — heavy and still. You carry them with you wherever you go. Soon, you learn to live with it, this heartbreak. It is there but over time it becomes more dull, every once in a while to be reawakened in a fresh bloom, when you suddenly remember and a scene from another lifetime ago comes before you.

Life holds a strange beauty to it, for you now understand it is not just full of dreams and excitements and things to discover, but also significant losses, deaths, disappointments, failures, and lows.

And yet it is this mix of happiness and sorrows, losses and renewal, fears and hopes — these opposing dualities that make life what it is. Your understanding of sorrow — this feeling deep in your bones, and the hope and the struggle forward each day despite it — your continued belief in love and in the goodness of humans and in this life in the face of sorrow — this is joy, this is what it means to live fully and deeply, with all of your soul and being. This is what grief is meant to teach you.

Let it bring you here.

Eleora

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with someone who you think might also find it helpful in navigating loss. You might also find my book, Grieving the Loss of a Love: How to Embrace Grief to Find True Hope and Healing After a Divorce, Breakup, or Death helpful to read or to pass along to others. Thank you for reading!

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