Category: Grief

Which word will transform your new year?

11/1/2017

Give yourself permission to take steps to fly. HealingForGrievingHearts.com

Happy New Year!
May it be a blessed one filled with good health, colourful days, and healing.

I hope you had a good start into the new year and that the holiday season treated you gently. It isn't always easy to get through those days of celebration when we don't feel like it.

When talking to people about their wishes for the new year they often mentioned that they chose a word for the new year.

I do that on a regular basis too. It helps me to take new steps and supports my wish for the new beginning. Plus the word can change during the year. 💜

Last year’s word was self-care. I managed quite well until the fall. Then work got busy and I forgot to keep myself accountable on my self-care promise. The result was a pinched nerve in my back mid December. Ouch! Still recuperating but I am much better.

This year’s word is Create.

I want to create:

helpful content for you
moments to relax and enjoy life
an online course that will help initiate healing
time to read, see friends more often, and go for long walks
meditations, paintings, and creative walks

If you would chose a word for 2017, what would it be? What will support you on your healing path?

Please share your word. 💜

Take good care,
Jacqueline

Let nature help you heal your grieving heart

16/11/2016

Heal your grief. Walk in Nature.

You have heard me saying this many times.

Walking in nature can have a healing impact.

My tendency when I feel stuck in my thoughts is to get busy and take on more work than I can handle. This goes on until my body tells me it is enough. I will get a sore throat or, like last week, my back will start to hurt.

These are my weak points. They are telling me to take a moment and reflect.

It also happens because by being busy I have forgotten to move. I am not doing my ten minute yoga practice and I don’t go for regular walks.

So after I had ‘suffered’ and taken pain killers all week. On Sunday, I decided it was enough and I started to do gentle yoga moves every time I felt the pain in my back.
Breathing a lot and yes, swearing was involved too, because it hurt.

Today I went on a half hour walk in a nearby park. The smells in the forest were uplifting and wonderful. It was a concoction of decaying leaves, needle and sap from the evergreens, and wet earth.

I feel so much better today. I know it has to do with movement and the experience in nature this afternoon. I can still feel where the pain was but it is so much better.

Do you think a walk in nature could help your grieving heart too?
I know it won’t take away all your hurt but it might just give you a bit of comfort.

Don’t wait for the right moment. Just get dressed and go for a half hour walk even if it is in your own backyard.

Be outside, take in the smell of the fall season, and let nature do its healing.

I am sending you healing love.

Take good care,

Jacqueline

When will my grief be over? When will I recover from all this sadness?

1/11/2016

Last week a former Canadian politician died in an airplane accident with three other people. My heart goes out for their families. I cannot imagine what they are going through.

This incident flooded me with memories and deep grief about my nephew’s death. He died eight years ago in a Cessna accident as well.

Often I am asked: When will my grief be over? When will I recover from all this sadness?

There is no right answer to it. Sadness and grief can flood our feelings all of a sudden when there is a trigger, like the one with the airplane crash.

Eight years ago, the feelings were overwhelming and the crying didn’t want to stop.

This week it was a reminder how much I miss and love him and how much I still grief his death. But there is a difference between then and today. The feelings of sorrow are more gentle and not overwhelming anymore.

When will my grief be over? When will I recover from all this sadness?

Perhaps the most honest answer is: It will never be over.

Your feelings of overwhelming sadness will change towards a gentler form. You will change. You will be a new you having witnessed and felt the death of a loved one.

This loss will make you more empathetic, more loving, and more carrying if you chose to go that path.

It might be difficult right now but I trust in your resilience and inner healing power.

Take good care,
Jacqueline

You have been confronted with death. What now?

19/10/2016

HealingForGrievingHearts.com program helps women navigate their unique grieving process with art therapy, mindfulness and gentle healing steps.

I am always looking for ways that could help you with your unique grieving process. You might like to join a grief support group, want to be alone, like to step into a guided grieving process with a therapist, or travel the world to find healing.

There is no right or wrong way, only your unique grieving process.

I discovered a new possibility that might be of interest to you if you don’t already know it. It is the Death Cafe.

Death Cafes encourage people to meet in coffee shops to discuss anything and everything to do with the subject of death, which is still a taboo in our culture.

A month ago, I joined a Death Cafe group in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was curious to see what it was all about and how it might help the healing process.

I checked their website first: A Death Cafe is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counselling session. The aim is to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.

About 16 people gathered at a local coffee shop* to talk about death over a cup of tea or coffee.

As a new member I felt immediately welcomed due to the shared interest, respect and the openness of all group members. I was not the only new person in the circle that day.

We shared:

feelings of grief
stories about near death experiences
exchanged information about caregiving for the dying
and relieve to be able to speak about death without any hesitation.

There was a lot of empathy, encouragement, and openness to everyone's concerns and stories.

I will go back for sure.

If you feel inspired to see if there is a Death Cafe in your neighbourhood you can check the Death Cafe website at or your local Meetup listings.

Let me know what you think about the concept of the Death Cafe.

If you would like personal help please let me know. We can arrange a free call so that you can move forward on your unique healing path.

Take good care,
Jacqueline

PS: I am not affiliated in any way with Death Cafe.

What clients say about the program:

Jacqueline's Healing for Grieving Hearts program was an oasis in my life at a time when I was grieving two losses: the loss of a beloved pet, and the loss of a significant relationship (through conflict, not death).

Jacqueline's caring presence and guidance, together with the exercises she created for me, created a safe space to voice and explore my difficult feelings. I loved how the exercises helped me get out of my head, and into the truth in my heart. Through the program, I found peace and clarity, and a renewed sense of direction in my life.
~ K. Nova Scotia

Is it possible to step away from your Grief?

12/7/2016

The gentle Healing for Grieving Hearts program will help you to navigate through your unique grieving process.

In my last post I gave you the advice to take time off. So that you could get away from your grief, from the overwhelm of your feelings by going on a vacation that could be an hour, a day, or even a week.

I still stand to the notion that you might want to start to add activities to your day that nurture you, that uplift your soul and make you smile.

You might have thought that this is difficult. You are right. Stepping away from your grief consciously is hard - even for just a moment.

My vacation lead me to Switzerland. I was stepping away from my everyday responsibilities but little did I know about my own feelings.

When I arrived in Switzerland I felt being pulled into my grief. There are too many places that are filled with memories of my mother. I was surprised how those feelings just flooded towards me.

So much for stepping away. (smile)

It was important to me to follow these feelings and to talk about my mother with relatives and friends.

The biggest healing part for me was a boat trip up the Lake of Zurich. To the island where we had celebrated my mother’s life and scattered her ashes into the lake like she had wished.

It was one of this wonderful clear days with the mountains visible at the horizon and the sun beaming.

I was glad to be alone on this trip with my mother residing inside my heart. She had always loved boat trips on the lake.

Yes, stepping away from your grief is hard although by doing it you connect with your resilience. You connect with your life force that is deeply embedded in you and wants to be nurtured to show itself.

What is an activity or place that helps you?

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to find a clear answer.

Take good care,
Jacqueline

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Which word will transform your new year?

Let nature help you heal your grieving heart

When will my grief be over? When will I recover from all this sadness?

You have been confronted with death. What now?

Is it possible to step away from your Grief?

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