In Episode 18 of my podcast, Journey From Grief to Healing, I played music in my home. I hadn’t played music since Babe entered the hospital six months earlier. The first song that randomly played was Garth Brooks’ Unanswered Prayers.’ It wasn’t easy, but I listened to it.
You can listen to this episode on your favorite podcast app or you can click the following link. Enjoy!
https://raycalabrese.podbean.com/e/episode-18-a-step-forward-while-grieving-i-began-playing-music/
In Episode 16 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing, I describe grieving as walking through a parallel universe of not knowing. I do not know how it will end. I do not know when it will end. I do not know my way through. This is what grieving feels like to me.
You can listen to my podcast on your favorite podcast app, or, you can click on the following link to listen to it:
https://raycalabrese.podbean.com/e/episode-16grieving-in-the-parallel-universe-of-not-knowing/
In Episode 14 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing, M asks me what I am feeling. She makes the distinction between how I feel and what I feel. It took me a while to process my grieving feelings. I described Babe’s death as an emptiness that could never be filled. M helps me to understand why the feeling emptiness accompanies grieving.
You can listen to the podcast on any podcast venue or you can click the following link.
https://raycalabrese.podbean.com/e/episode-15-the-feeling-of-emptiness-overwhelmed-me/
Episode 12 from my Podcast: Journey from Grief to Healing M wants me to journal about unanswered prayers. I knew I was angry with God for letting Babe die. I didn’t realize how angry I felt. This journal was difficult for me to write. I knew it had to be done. I couldn’t continue to stuff my anger.
This poscast is available on all podcast venues or you can listen to it here:
Once a great love cut my life in two.
The first part goes on twisting
at some other place like a snake cut in two.
The passing years have calmed me
and brought healing to my heart and rest to my eyes.
And I’m like someone standing in the Judean desert, looking at a sign:
“Sea Level”
He cannot see the sea, but he knows.
Thus I remember your face everywhere
at your “face Level.”
The Black Madonna
Albert Rice
Not as the white nations
know thee
O Mother!
But swarthy of cheek
and full-lipped as the
child races are.
Yet thou art she,
the Immaculate Maid,
and none other,
Crowned in the stable
at Bethlehem,
hailed of the star.
See where they come,
thy people,
so humbly appealing,
From the ancient lands
where the olden faiths
had birth.
Tired dusky hands
uplifted for thy
healing.
Pity them, Mother,
the untaught
of earth.
“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.
Wash your spirit clean.
We all make mistakes. It’s part of the human condition. There’s no way we can undo something we’ve already done or said. It’s why forgiveness is so important to every relationship. It’s important for us to forgive; and, equally important to be forgiven. That’s the tough stuff in relationship building. I knew a guy who divorced after 25 years. He claimed that working at a relationship is too hard. I felt sorry for him. Last I knew he lived alone with his dog. It takes courage to work through the messy stuff and forgive. It takes more courage to learn from the events and use the learning to build a better relationship.
I have a friend some distance from where I live who was not feeling well. I connected with my friend via a chat venue and saw a remarkable difference in my friend’s features. My friend’s health greatly improved. I was happy. Hearing my friend was feeling better was the best news I could hear. If I didn’t reach out, I would not have experienced the joy of my friend’s recovery. Reach out and connect, you’ll feel better.
