Sharing is an important part of the grief process - sharing our feelings, our fears, our thoughts and therefore each Sunday I post articles sent to me which will help us through our bereavement through positive thinking techniques. Here are this weeks articles

Krisdyn presents How to Help the Grieving posted at A Beautiful Life.

Nina presents Ten Powerful Inspirational Quotes and Reflections About Success posted at Metaphysical Teachers, saying, “Sayings and quotes about success can have a powerful effect on you. If you take the time to think about the deeper meaning behind the words, you’ll realize how easily you can apply these sayings into your own life to achieve the success you desire.”

Paula Kawal presents Angels Speak posted at Journey Inward Productions, saying, “The Angels are giving me more and more information. They say that the world is in desperate need of healing and the call of every human being currently on the planet revolves around this in some way or form.”

Erin Pavlina presents Law of Attraction and the Role of Action posted at Erin Pavlina’s Blog, saying, “Recently someone asked me if you have to take action once you set an intention using the Law of Attraction (LOA) or if you can just set the intention and go on about your merry way.”

Celes presents Get Motivated in 10 Surefire Ways posted at EmbraceLiving.Net, saying, “Do you feel like you are lacking motivation in life now? Being in a slump can be quite a frustrating experience - I know because I’ve been there before too. Here’s 10 surefire ways to increase your motivation.”

Scientific Living presents How to Tell Your Own Future posted at Scientific Living, saying, “How to scientifically tell what is going to happen in your future, why, and how to alter it.”

Catherine VanWetter presents To the Heart of the Matter - Inner Peace Tip: Choosing Faith over Fear posted at To The Heart of the Matter, saying, “At times I think about what faith is too much and discover that is a way to get hung up in the details of faith rather than trusting the divine unfolding. How to enter your day with intention.”

Broderick Allen presents Overwhelmed? posted at Broderick Allen - Personal Growth and Enjoying Life’s Journey.

Stephen Martile presents The Unconscious Mind Power Series 2 posted at FreedomEducation.ca by Stephen Martile, saying, “The purpose of this video is to show you how beliefs are formed and where they come from. This is an important step so that you can understand how to reprogram your unconscious mind and create new beliefs.”

Ken Siew presents CHANGE You Believe In Weekly Series #2 - Belief posted at Think Big & Think Money - Guide to Success & Wealth, saying, “Think bigger than you are. If you want to succeed in life, you have to change your old stinking beliefs first! Believe this - YOU have huge potential.”

Donald Latumahina presents Proven Principles for Managing Your Energy posted at Life Optimizer.

Andrew Heath presents On Starting Before We’re Ready posted at Andrew Heath

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of positive thinking using our
carnival submission form.

It has been a while since I jotted down my thoughts. Tonight grief is leaving me numb…not happy, not sad just numb..I wrote this down and maybe you will connect with this kind of grieving

When we face those days when we don’t know how

To face the world and carry on

We must remember that life is a gift to all

And remember to smile and stand up tall

A smile can wash away the fears

And a hug from a friend take away the tears

Grief is not easy but then life is hard too

It is not what we think it is what we all do

And how do we find that will to pull through

Remember them looking and saying “I love you”

They are looking over us from heaven above

Continuing to support through our eternal love

Grieving is so hard to explain, that I wonder why as human beings we even try to explain? Maybe it is just me but somehow I want to try and explain the feeling and in reality there are no words that fully describe bereavement, mainly because it changes so fluidly.

It just made me think how for all the words we have in the world, we cannot explain

It just made me think how for all the words in the world why try, as it won’t help someone understand unless they have suffered the same grief?

It just made me think that we would hurt so much less if we just didn’t think!

I came across this poem about grief today, not sure who wrote it but maybe it will provide some comfort to anyone grieving

When I am gone, release me, let me go.

I have so many things to see and do,
You mustn’t tie yourself to me with too many tears,

But be thankful we had so many good years.

I gave you my love, and you can only guess
How much you’ve given me in happiness.

I thank you for the love that you have shown,
But now it is time I traveled on alone.

So grieve for me a while, if grieve you must
Then let your grief be comforted by trust
That it is only for a while that we must part,
So treasure the memories within your heart.

I won’t be far away for life goes on.

And if you need me, call and I will come.

Though you can’t see or touch me, I will be near
And if you listen with your heart, you’ll hear
All my love around you soft and clear

And then, when you come this way alone,
I’ll greet you with a smile and a “Welcome Home”.

Grieving means that we need to find a way of facing our future. Often people refer to letting go of the past and this can feel uncomfortable as a widow or widower. We don’t feel like - or ready to - let go of the memories and love. You can feel in some way guilty of moving on, in some way that the memories are the only thing left and if we give those up…then what?

It dawned on me when having our Widows Support Group, that are we really trying to let go? Or are we trying to let in?

Letting go of the past is difficult and painful and in reality not something that we want to do…but what we need to do is…

Find a way of letting other people in…..if we can find a way of letting others in then we can find happiness, love and friendship which helps creates that happier future.

So out with the letting go….and in with the letting in?

When we talked on our monthly Widows Quest telephone call in, we talked about how some of us were expected to be strong. I was one of those people, I am quite easy going, I tend to see the positive in dark times….and so when anyone dies around me I am expected to be strong….

Or am I?

After I came off the call, I thought do others expect me to be strong in grief and help them cope with bereavement or do I?

You know when I think about it…and if I am being completely honest!….I think it comes from me. No one has ever said you need to be strong, I have expected it of myself because of those grieving around me. I have not wanted to be seen as weak and yet I have never seen those as grieving around me as weak!

You know it may be more to do with not letting that emotion really flow…it might be about the fear that if I let myself grieve unconditionally that I will crumble…..I think I am strong in some ways more for me than other people? I think I fear being weak, more than anyone else does? And when I think about it, my ’strength’ has often caused a problem with those around me because they feel I should be grieving more or that it has made them feel more inadequate.

Mmmm who are we being strong for really…..maybe it is for other people but maybe there is a small element for ourselves as well

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Widows Quest had its first get together last night. We used Gotomeeing which mean that we all logged on to a website and we could all hear each other and talk to each other (Well almost Leslie!)

It was wonderful and my only hope is that we have more people join us next month…as just being together for an hour so helped me so much. Hearing others talking about coping with grief, knowing they truly understood the pain, feeling the love and support was fantastic! We plan another event at the beginning of June so watch out for details.

But I want to reach a Widows Quest hug out to Mary today who is bravely facing he wonderful husbands birthday today and Leslie who said today she is walking for her husbands cause. I wondered what a hug would be like, I think it would be

H = Hoping that you get the chance today to celebrate the life as feel the pain of the loss

U = Understand you are not alone, each one of us sends their love and are thinking about you

G = Grieving never means you lose the loss, but friendship means that you learn to cope….here is our friendship given

willingly!

A HUG a day will keep the depression at bay!

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Firstly remember tonight at 6pm NY time we will be getting together online for a natter and putting a voice to the community at Widows Quest. If you want to join in email me at anna@theengagingbrand.com and I will send you an invite….

But I was just blown away by a comment from Mary on the Facing Death post, she talks about how her late husband had no regrets and a saying he used to quote about life

“Life is a present that so many people do not unwrap”

Oh wow that is so true and I know after a death it feels like an unwanted gift. But you know life is a present given to us, it is precious we know that because we are grieving the loss of a life. If we don’t find the strength to unwrap our life, then it will be a waste…..we may have lost a life but we must

retain our own….

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Today is another one of those days, my grieving day! So I thought I would write down what I was feeling as it may help others

I sit, I stare, I try and focus

Yet nothing seems to matter anymore

I look for inspiration in the photos around me

Yet nothing seems to matter anymore.

I dig deep inside and look for your love

Because nothing else matter but that love we shared

Yet there is nothing there, nothing to hold on to

Will it be better tomorrow, next week, next month?

Because I need something, anything to hold on to

I hear your voice telling me to fight, telling me to move on

That nothing matters more than my happiness

Yet to me my happiness was you, my world was you

And in that thought I stay because

Nothing seems to matter anymore

And then in an instance I know

That our love lives on and that it is our love

That really matters, our love that will see me through

Last week I posted some tips on how to handle your grief on Valentines Day, so I hope that you are facing today with some strength, a dose of courage and of course knowing that a hug from me is on its way

I was thinking how I could cope with Valentines Day and decided I would face it positively so here are my 10 “grieving” love thoughts

1. I love the fact we were together
2. I love the person you helped me become
3. I love the way I wear your jumper today and know you are still around me
4. I love the fact that I got to feel real love
5. I love the fact that we faced the world together, no matter what life threw at us we coped - we even laughed
6. I love the way people speak about you, even now. You still touch peoples lives.
7. I love the fact that I can help keep your legacy alive, you may not be here but your legacy of compassion and giving carries on.
8. I love the fact that I can still hear your laugh, that laugh that was so infectious and even now makes me smile
9. I love the fact that we worked through our problems, that we were not perfect, that we never gave up our love. By working through our personal feelings we became stronger.
10. I love the fact that I can still feel your love deep in my heart…….I love you too

I don’t want today to be about loss, I want it to be about love……..because in love you can usually find an answer….