The early dark days of grief

I’ve been thinking all morning about how we never really know how someone else is doing – how often appearances and interiors don’t match up.

I had a terrible night’s sleep last night – a combination of being too hot and high blood sugar for no reason I could figure out. This morning I feel foggy headed and worn out, but I look… fine. Nobody would know to look at me how I’m feeling on the inside.

And it reminds me so much of those early dark days of grief – when I was falling to pieces on the inside but had to keep trudging on to get through every day. It also reminds me – always and forever – of how important it is to remember the edict:

It’s so simple, but so necessary.

This is a photo of an intention box I made for 2019 – the year my mom died. It was going to be my year of playful… The mantra, though, I find very helpful – it’s the Ho’oponopono prayer from Hawaii:

The idea is to say it repeatedly towards any situation that distresses you… not the person, the situation. I fairly often find myself repeating it in my head.

Okay! That’s it for my morning musings. Let’s all go and be a little kinder than necessary today…