Losing someone in our lives that we love is tough. We cry, we feel immense pain, we grieve, and sometimes we get lost in the pain. We also lose not just people in our lives, but close chapters in parts of our life that sometimes feels like we have lost a piece of us and grieve that loss the same way we grieve the loss of a loved one. The closed chapters in our lives can stem from a loss of job, an injury or physical ailment, or environmental changes that affect where and how we live on a daily basis.
Loss is painful. Loss is also powerful. Certain types of losses can even be experienced as a kaleidoscope of colors. It’s a prime time for transformation. But, loss isn’t about losing ourselves in the loss either. When we encounter loss in our lives we find ourselves at what I call Crisis at the Crossroads.
Crisis at the Crossroads are points of transformative change on our road trip of life experience. We can turn and lose ourselves in the loss or turn in a different direction and walk through the loss in love – consciously feeling, processing, and letting go of the pain; appreciating the experiences that culminated in the loss; and honoring the loss by re-creating in love.
I have experienced great loss in my life and I have experienced both turns at the crossroads. I vote turning in the direction where we walk through the loss in love. When we walk through the loss in love we learn about conscious detachment and graceful appreciation for the experiences that contribute to our current state of being. The mind and body stay in harmony through this process and we stay tied into our creative power to move forward.
How do we practice conscious detachment? We honor the difficult and painful situations by staying steady in our practice. Your practice may be contemplative prayer, traditional worship pursuant to your religion, or it can be meditation, yoga, or all of the above.
We can honor the loss with conscious detachment by invoking and exhibiting the qualities from the experience that bring forth deep love within us. And we can continue to honor the loss when we use that deep love to create something in connection with the loss. We can create something using our words, through music, art, gardening, cooking, and the list goes on.
When we honor the loss in love, whether if it’s a person or a phase of our life, the spirit of the person or experience is then imbibed in the thing we create and we watch life grow in a new way. We transform in love. We participate in life in wholly holy new way.
Om Shanti Om ~ Athea
