Category: Transformation

The Labyrinth Leads to Centre

23/9/2022

Labyrinth - Healing For Grieving Hearts - Jacqueline Steudler

Walking a labyrinth always leads you to the centre. The centre of yourself or your soul. You choose (smile)

You never can take a wrong turn. The difference between a maze where you get tripped up by the wrong path or wall, and you have to backtrack. In a labyrinth, you move forward.

We built the labyrinth in our garden a few years back, and every year it seems to become more difficult to keep nature from taking over. We built it when I moved to Nova Scotia from Switzerland seventeen years ago. (WOW)

At the beginning of my new life, I felt lost, not knowing anyone but my spouse and his family. That wasn't always enough to keep me creative and my community-based soul happy.

Homesickness came and went. I wasn't as confident as I had been in my familiar space to go out into a world where I didn't speak the language well enough. Trust me, my then school English wasn't great for an adult conversation. (smile)

In one of those homesickness moments, I remembered my walks in a labyrinth near where I had lived in Switzerland. Yes, in the middle of the bustling city of Zurich, there is a labyrinth a bit hidden in a park. I told my spouse, and we decided to build our own.

It's much smaller than the usual labyrinths, but it's wonderful to walk to the centre early in the morning before starting my day. It's my way of meditating.

A walk in the labyrinth always helps you to find back to your centre. In a time when your emotions are taking over your life, you will find it to be a wonderful addition to calm and nurture your soul.

Don't have a backyard to build your own? No worries, I have you covered.

Even moving your fingers inside the path of a labyrinth can help you have the same benefits as walking it. I've created a short video that shows you how you can draw your own labyrinth. It's super simple. Try it!

Watch here.

Let me know if it helped you too to center and calm your soul. Also, if you have questions or can't get it to work, send me an email; I'm happy to help.

Allow yourself to heal. What does that mean when grieving?

20/12/2017

Allow yourself to heal. -HealingForGrievingHearts.com

Allow yourself to heal

What do I mean by that?

When we are hurting lots of us have the tendency to hide inside ourselves.
We want to deal with all our feelings by ourselves. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t.

When you are grieving the loss of a loved one you might want to rethink how to cope with your feelings and pain.

Allowing yourself to heal means to create space that will help you heal.

That space can be nature.
It can be a corner in your home where you light a candle for your loved one.
It can be a get together with a good friend that doesn’t judge you for what you are feeling.
It can be a celebration of your loved one's life where memories are shared.

Allowing yourself to heal means to become active in your healing process.

It means to step out or your own inside turmoil and transform it into a visible dialogue. This can be painting, journaling, rituals, and memory sharing.

The coming holidays might be a first step to try new possibilities. The most important part is to be gentle with yourself. I wrote a post last year about how to prepare for the holidays. You can find it here.

I am wishing you that you will find the space that helps you heal and that you will be surrounded by supportive family members and/or friends.

I am keeping you in my heart,
Jacqueline

The Healing Rituals course will launch on January 19, 2018.

Finding your next step in life after loss

16/7/2017

Give yourself the support system you need. It might include asking for help. -HealingForGrievingHearts.com

It isn’t easy to find the next step in life when you experience overwhelming grief. The sadness and despair over the death of your loved one might sometimes feel unbearable. Hang in there.

Scenario 1
Your loved one was a part of your next steps. You had dreams and plans for the future together. There was a gentle understanding between the two of you what would come next. Now that she/he is gone you have no future steps to take.

Scenario 2
Your loved one was not in agreement with your vision of the future. Still you tried to move both of you to that dream of yours. You negotiated and fought for it. Now that he/she is gone you have no further steps to take.

Both scenarios leave you behind with unfulfilled wishes and dreams. Dreams and wishes that were directly linked to your loved one. No matter if it was a struggle or not. You might also feel regret that you didn’t move faster. That you waited too long because you didn’t know that your time together would be cut short.

Now what?

The next step is something that only you can take. It will be a step of mourning these wishes and dreams as well as the loss of your loved one.

Yes, it is a whole life that you had envisioned that has gone as well with the death of your loved one.

You are still here. Your love for him/her is still within you. Your dreams are still lingering and it hurts like hell that you can’t change the past.

The next step is to find a support system that will help you mourn the loved one you have lost. Help you grieve the dreams and wishes that might not possible anymore without them.

The next step for you can be rituals that help you in your unique grieving process. I already wrote about the possibilities of rituals. You can find all these posts here.

Take good care and don't hesitate to reach out,
Jacqueline

How to prepare for the Holidays when you are grieving

1/12/2016

Listen to your grieving Heart - HealingForGrievingHearts.com

Are you prepared for the cheer, the family images of happy people, the songs that might remind you of better days?

If you have lost someone this year it might be the first Holiday Season without them.

You might experience a flood of feelings or go numb and feel nothing at all.

It can help if you start to prepare yourself for the coming days counting down to Christmas.

1. Think about what you can and cannot do this year

A well meant invitation to a concert or a tree lighting might be too much for you. Even if your friends and family try to cheer you up with the things that you always loved during this time you might feel overwhelmed and fearful to fall apart in public. Take good care of yourself and gently decline invitations that are too stressful.

2. Be honest

Who do you want to have around for Christmas? Talk to your friends and family members how you want to celebrate. Who else in your circle is grieving? Could you help each other? Be open to new ideas.

3. Accept help from others

It is difficult to ask for help from others. Sometimes it is even harder to accept help, especially if you have been in charge of the holidays in other years.

4. Prepare a ritual to honour your loved one

Buy their favourite flowers. Cook that special dessert. Go for a walk in nature and light a candle at a cherished place. Share stories and memories of your loved one.

5. Which traditions do you want to keep?

Your friends and family might try to change things up in an effort to help you. Be clear and honest about your feelings and what you want to happen.

Whatever you decide to do or not to do it is your truth. There is no right or wrong way.

Take good care and don’t hesitate to reach out if you feel the need to talk. I am here for you.

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

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The Labyrinth Leads to Centre

Allow yourself to heal. What does that mean when grieving?

Finding your next step in life after loss

How to prepare for the Holidays when you are grieving

Let nature help you heal your grieving heart

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