Grief and Times of Change
Grief is part of the human experience. We grieve the loss of a loved one, a furry friend, a beloved colleague, a career, a relationship, or the loss of something we have had in our lives for a long time. We grieve the onset of illness, trauma, or some situation that has or will change how we live our lives. And many of us grieve for all of humanity, the animals, the environment … the collective in its current state of existence.
What is Grief
by Darity Wesley
During this massive change on the planet, we are all probably feeling some level of grief. The pandemic has created a dramatic shift in and around us all—the loss of how things used to be.
Any time there is a shift in realities, and this is not the first reality shift on this planet, grief tends to accompany the experience.
So, what is grief? Grief is deep sorrow. Deep, deep sorrow … and its depth varies depending on the connection to what is lost.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist who was a pioneer in the hospice movement and wrote many books on death and dying, introduced the five stages of grief. She later added two more stages of grief, making it The Seven Stages of Grief.
The seven stages are:
1) Shock
2) Denial
3) Anger
4) Bargaining
5) Depression
6) Testing
7) Acceptance
Kübler-Ross postulates that this is a series of emotions we all go through when we are diagnosed with a terminal illness or when we lose a loved one.
However, it also applies to the types of loss we experience in a changing world, a transformational, paradigm-changing experience, much like we are going through right now. The old world, the old energy, is dying. What we thought of as our “reality” is changing right before our very eyes. The new world, the new energy, the New Reality, is still unknown. It is amorphous. We cannot see it clearly and do not know what it will look like until the speed of change has slowed down. Indeed, it will look much different. Our lives will never be the same. As a result, most of us are experiencing some level of grief.
The experience of grief is different for each person, and the Seven Stages of Grief are not necessarily pointing on some linear timeline. Not everyone goes through all of them or even in any prescribed order, as the experience of grief is as unique as we are. The final stage of grief eventually brings us to acceptance and the knowledge that All Is Well with All That Is!
Therefore, be aware that many of us are experiencing and moving through stages of grief. Understanding that we are all experiencing some form of grief will enable us to have compassion for each other. It provides us with a tool in our evolutionary toolbox that will help frame and identify what we, and others, may be feeling.
This allows us to really feel and connect with the emotion that is happening and then keeping our wits about us. This will give us the wherewithal to calm our monkey mind, open our hearts, and firmly ground ourselves in the immense love that is All That Is. It is what allows us to heal and move forward.
The healing comes when we allow the pain, the grief, the sadness to be felt. We have to honor our emotions and let them release. These tools apply whether it is the loss of life or loss of a way of life. Or even the loss of everything we have known before.
We are vast, powerful beings … more than we really know. We can step out of our grief when we are ready and into creating the New Reality. Our grief, our feelings, our acceptance are the steppingstones to an exciting new way of life.
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About the Author
Darity Wesley is an award-winning, best-selling author, a lawyer, a speaker, a Death Diva, and a Wisdom Sharer. She has traveled the spiritual, metaphysical, and personal development paths for many decades. She has become a powerful resource for those awakening to their evolving consciousness. Her ‘Wisdom for the New Reality’ message goes out monthly to her international community for free. Sign up on her website www.DarityWesley.com.
