Angela Levesque: Calm Mind, Open Heart
OMTIMES: Is it possible to heal a broken heart? ANGELA LEVESQUE: Healing is the act of becoming whole. It is experiencing and living with the knowledge that we are mind, body and spirit beings. So I do feel that people can return to a sense of wholeness again after experiencing a loss. This takes time and for each individual that varies. Part of the healing comes from the loss of identity that happens when a loved one dies. We often identify with our roles, so for example, “I was Joe’s wife” and if Joe is gone, part of your identity is also gone. So in some ways we are also grieving the loss of self. Healing a broken heart will come, in part, from re-discovering who you are. This doesn’t mean we don’t honor and grieve the loss of life, but when the time is right we find ways to connect back to our own center. Death is not an end; it is only a transmutation of energy.
OMTIMES: Tell us a little about how you started your Spiritual Journey; and what event was responsible for awakening the healer within you.
ANGELA LEVESQUE: My active journey began when I was 14 years old with the death of my grandfather. For all the years I had known him he had been living in great pain and so when he passed I saw it as a blessing. Growing up in a religious household I was introduced to the concepts of heaven and hell at an early age. When my grandfather died, I was certain that he would go to heaven, yet everyone around me was overtaken with grief. Could they not see the blessing in this event? On one hand, I was told that there was the promise of an afterlife and, on the other hand, the people around me were devastated. Why would they be so sad if he was moving on to a life with God? Maybe the afterlife didn’t exist? This incongruence left me with many questions and the answers I was receiving did not satisfy me. So I voraciously began learning about all religions and their understanding of death and the afterlife. Eventually, I realized that religion was not the only path to God. As I started to delve deeper into yoga and meditation as a young adult I realized that God can’t just be an intellectual concept. God needs to be experienced. It was the unanswered questions that started me on my journey, but it is those experiences that changed my life.
