Throughout the United States, family and friends are gathering for the celebration of Thanksgiving. Many will watch the big parades, football, play cards, eat to their heart's delight.
Yet, for many, today is a day of transformation. One that may include the pain around the loss of a loved one.
Likely there are many who will not know what this feels like. Others will know the feeling all too well.
Today is the
first Thanksgiving many people will be without a loved one who has
passed. Unless the loss directly impacts us, we can forget how raw the feeling in one's heart.
If you are sharing the day with loved ones who have gone through a loss in the last year, and this is the first holiday they are going through this, remember to be extra gentle, caring, loving and kind. We may forget the pain another is experiencing.
With those who cannot share the day with us, a phone call to say "I love you", "I'm thinking of you", "I care" can be a welcome call and bring so much comfort. It is in the simplicity of reaching out, transformation continues to occur.
It is in the remembering we create oneness with our loved ones who remain. The loss of a loved one shifts our life forever. Make today a day of gratitude for the love we can still share and the memories we can continue to create.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
Please share your thoughts on how to help loved ones through the holidays if they have lost a loved one.
Dear Kathleen,
To you and everyone who has lost a loved one this year, I'm wishing you comfort, peace, love and finding the joy in the memories of time spent together.
A toast to a life lived uniquely perfect!
Or, as my dad, who passed away on Canadian Thanksgiving Day 2005 would say "Ah, the hell with it!":)
Kimberly
Posted by: Kimberly Martin | November 26, 2009 at 01:04 PM
Very touching observation Kathleen. For my clients who have been grieving the loss of a loved one, I've found its essential to change how they think about that relationship. Even though the loved one has passed, the love we share continues. I have my clients visualize seeing their loved one in front of them, and take the time to tell them everything they would want to share, while feeling that connection (I use the visual of a ray of light, connecting your heart and your loved one's heart), foster the love, the love continues. Death is not the end - its simply a transformation, and the love we pick up through life continues.
Posted by: Holly Stokes | November 26, 2009 at 01:12 PM
Kathleen --
You just did it by writing about it and bringing it out in the open like you do with so many things -- because it is the WHO YOU ARE -- such a Bright Shining Light.
Today is a bit tough, losing my Dad (as you have) and also being newly single after 14 yrs of marriage. Yes -- I focus on the gratitude, but still, the human in me is a bit vulnerable and EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for those who have reached out and touched me today! : ) Like you!
Blessings and hugs! You are such a blessing!
Stephanie Bell aka @SpiritCoach
Posted by: Stephanie Bell the Spirit Coach | November 26, 2009 at 01:17 PM
Kathleen,
My mother, bless her beautiful soul, passed away last year. Personally at times like these I choose to remember all the best about her and her life. I know it is not easy for everyone, but what we focus on expands. Fortunately I have some awesome memories to choose from and it is these I remember. A part of my mum is always in my heart so we are never really separated - it is just the physical form that has gone.
In love and light.
John
Posted by: John Martin | November 26, 2009 at 02:06 PM