When someone we love dies, a part of us dies with them. We are forever changed and we’ve lost a part of the person we once were. How do we find ourselves through the depths of our pain?
In Grief Quest (the book I co-authored with I. J. Weinstock), we say that when you lose someone, it’s time to find yourself. Finding more of yourself is part of the healing process. With the Find Yourself questions offered in Grief Quest, you might ask yourself:
- Before your loss, what was your greatest passion?
- What do you regret not having done so far in your life?
- When in your life have you felt most passionate and alive?
For me, finding myself after my daughter’s loss meant rediscovering my love of painting. But instead, I felt a deep pull within me, I like to call “a heart tug,” guiding me to art therapy and back to a path with direction. Art therapy helped me and ultimately helped others in COPE.
A bereaved father, after losing his child, found himself through performing comedy. Somehow this comedian found his passion again in a missing part of himself that once was alive.
How does one find comedy in grief? What could he possibly laugh about? How did performing comedy help Bart Sumner, a grieving father, find his way? How can we learn to find our way from the path of others, even if it is one very different from our own?
Please join us for COPE’s Comedy Improv Grief Workshop on April 8th and 9th to hear the story of another bereaved parent who, out of love for his son, has committed himself to helping others through comedy.
Holidays are a difficult time to find a reason to smile, let alone laugh. With so much more missing than just ourselves, it is important to be with those you feel safe to be yourself…to cry, to laugh, to love and be loved.
Lilly