TENDING THE WEB: GRIEF & GRATITUDE
We live in challenging and extraordinary times, tasked with bearing witness to the unraveling of our world’s social and ecological systems. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all carry a piece of a larger, collective grief arising from this loss.
As we move through life, we also experience many personal losses, or “tiny deaths,” as we lose loved ones and experience transitions like the end of a relationship, the loss of an ability, or a move away from a cherished home. When we take the time to grieve these losses, we’re able to honor those we’ve lost, honor the impact they’ve had on us, and eventually, to harvest the gifts of grief. These gifts are part of our shared humanity. As author and grief worker Martin Prechtel teaches, grief and love are two sides of the same coin.
I facilitate workshops, rituals and retreats designed for change-makers, empaths, cultural workers and care givers to process our grief, both personal and collective, in order to be more present, engaged, and powerful forces for change. For those of us engaged in Earth-sustaining, justice-seeking work, it is critical to develop practices to care for our hearts and grow our capacity to navigate the times we live in with purpose and compassion. This is no small task, and the key word is practice.
By feeling, honoring, and moving through our grief, we restore flow.
“What is your capacity to metabolize what you’re bearing witness to?” — Laura van Dernoot Lipsky
At this juncture in human history, the scale and scope of what we’re losing is almost beyond our ability to comprehend. Genocide is live-streamed daily. Fascism is on the rise globally. The very life support systems of the planet — a stable climate, abundant fresh water, intact ecosystems — are at risk. Staring into this abyss, it is easy to become overwhelmed. We may numb our feelings, which arise out of our deep care for the world and our interconnection with its inhabitants. We can easily get distracted by the demands of life, work, relationships, and surviving modern capitalism. Yet whether we register it consciously or not, this collective loss affects us all. And when we fail to process our emotions, including our grief, that energy can become stuck and impact our mental, emotional and physical health.
When we’re able to honor and metabolize our grief, we affirm our connection with the web of life, and become more fully engaged in the healing of the world. We also emerge on the other side with a sense of renewal and more space for creativity, connection and engagement.
Join me for the next grief retreat
I facilitate workshops, retreats, rituals and other explorations in the tradition of the Work that Reconnects, a framework that honors our pain for the world and helps us become more active participants in the transition to a life-affirming society. I also weave in Earth-based ritual, rooting our work in the deeper rhythms of the seasons, land and watersheds we call home. This work is based in gratitude and the fertile ground of our connection with the Earth and each other.
I’m a member of the Work That Reconnects facilitators network, initiated by root teacher Joanna Macy, and I also draw inspiration from the work of Francis Weller, Martin Prechtel, and Laura van Dernoot Lipsky.
If you’d like to stay in the loop about future offerings, please enter your email below to join my mailing list. If you’re part of an organization interested in hosting a workshop or retreat, please get in touch via the inquiry button below.
Feedback from past workshop participants:
“It helped me feel more connected to my heart and spirit.”
“Really powerful. Wonderful for a brief class — transformative. Such beautiful work!”
“I wish everyone could do something like this. It felt very well organized, focused, well balanced and intimate.”
“I felt wonderfully challenged to stay present for tears, hard in the moment but great to be brave.”
“The process was really effective for reaching objectives. I loved not knowing what was next.”
“I wish it was longer - it felt amazing to open up.”
“Restorative for the soul.”
“Grief is subversive, undermining our society’s quiet agreement that we will behave and be in control of our emotions. It is an act of protest that declares our refusal to live numb and small. There is something feral about grief, something essentially outside the ordained and sanctioned behaviours of our culture. Because of that, grief is necessary to the vitality of the soul.”
— Francis Weller
“The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.”
— Joanna Macy