Dealing with grief is one of the most devastating things in life that we must unfortunately experience. The finality of losing someone we love can cause us to feel angry, anxious or depressed.
When dealing with grief, it may feel like you can’t move forward, or you don’t know how you can continue living in a world without your loved one in it.
To help deal with these intense and overwhelming emotions, turning to meditation can help. Meditation is a practice of calm and being mindful, where the frenetic thoughts and worries in your mind are quieted for a moment of reflection and being present. Through meditation, you can begin to calm your emotions, assess your feelings, and come to a place of acceptance and peace.
A Meditation to Cope with Grief:
Choose a quiet, comfortable space to sit where you can be alone for 15 to 20 minutes. Play some soft ambient music if you like.
Close your eyes and begin by taking slow, mindful and natural deep breaths: in through the nose, then slowly exhale.
Try to push away any thoughts or worries and concentrate only on being in this moment.
Think of the face of the person you’re missing, and imagine them before you, now. You can imagine that their spirit is there with you, or you can simply envision their face.
Express anything you’d like to them. Focus on making the conversation loving and compassionate. If you’d like, you can reimagine a memory. Put yourself back in time with your loved one and imagine experiencing everything in that moment.
Thank your loved one for being part of your life. Express gratitude for the wonderful memories they provided while they were with you.
Slowly bring your awareness back to the room. Feel the energy of yourself from the top of your head to your toes as you take slow and natural deep breaths.
Try this meditation any time you feel the need to do so.
There are apps you can download for your smartphone or tablet to help guide you through different meditations; just search for “meditation” in the App Store. One of my favorites is the Calm app. Another great one for background music is the Relax app. You can also search YouTube for “meditations for grief” and try the guided meditations available there for free.
There is no one way to grieve; everyone grieves differently. There’s also no time table or deadline. The journey of grief is a very personal one, and the only way to get through it is to deal with the emotions you’re experiencing as they come.
Grief and loss are hard and sometimes getting counseling can be helpful. If you or a loved one could use professional support after a loss, feel free to reach out to me at 919-891-0525 today for a free, 15-minute consultation. Appointments may be scheduled for my Wake Forest counseling office or online.