The Moment I Fell Open to Grief

"Falling open didn't change my level of pain, but it did change my level of participation in my grief. Instead of an escape-seeking victim I became a sober human being exploring the cavern of my heart with a magnifying glass called grief. You see, the only way I would find my way out of this land of loss was by finding my way in. My own way in. Not your way in or the five expected ways in, but my own unique, heart-breaking, heart-quaking, heart-opening way in. This falling open to grief doesn't change grief. It just changes how it lives in me. I allow the missing to be a form of gratitude; the memories to be shared instead of shamed; and the anniversaries to be commemorations instead of condemnations."

The Moment I Fell Open to Grief