Spirituality and healing around grief is inevitably an individual and personal journey, with no two people sharing the same experiences. While my interest in spirituality started in childhood, my spiritual and healing journey started in earnest some 13+ years ago when I set up my website, The CP Diary, following my Cerebral Palsy diagnosis, aged 46.
Personal reflections capture the essence of spirituality and healing. It also highlights the personal nature of spirituality and its potential to accommodate healing on multiple levels—including the physical, emotional and spiritual level. It involves connecting with our inner-selves and being in tune with the world around us.
GRIEF AND MINDFULNESS
I use and embrace mindfulness. I continue to use mindfulness as a tool through my own grieving and the loss of my twin. It helps me to stay focused in the present, while allowing me to work on practical tools for navigating my way through grief and my healing journey. Spirituality also provides a profound sense of purpose and connection, allowing for empathy and compassion through the other end of the grieving process.
The emphasis needs to be on patience, tolerance, understanding and personal growth, which serve to underscore the ongoing nature of the spiritual and healing journey, reminding us that it is a process marked by introspection. It is important to be in tune with how you feel; your thoughts and feelings throughout the grieving process.
SPIRITUALITY: AN INSIGHTFUL PERSPECTIVE
Spirituality is an excellent tool to help navigate you through the grieving process. It offers a compassionate and insightful perspective on the connection between physical and mental health, while emphasising the importance of self-care and personal growth through your spiritual and healing journey.
Read more by Ilana at www.thecpdiary.com
Read Ilana elsewhere on Open to Hope: https://www.opentohope.com/losing-a-loved-one-makes-you-grow-up/
On April 9, 2024, I lost my wife to Alzheimer’s disease after 23 years – particularly bad the last 6 years. She was 87 and my wife for 67 years. She was my best friend for 70 years and wife for 67. I am trying to deal with her death. She is in heaven and no longer suffering. I am trying to deal with her death, but grieving quite hard. Jim Woodard
Hi Jim, I am so sorry to hear about your wife… and you are absolutely right, your wife is in heaven and is no longer suffering. She is also well again.
I am ‘spiritual’ and although I haven’t lost a relative to Alzheimer’s I have lost a twin and I believe it is the same for my twin. Once our loved ones make the transition they no longer bear and carry their illness.
I hope this helps. If you want to know more, perhaps my website @TheCPDiary can help. Link in Bio…
Best wishes,
Ilana