To cry is to be human and the expression of tears is not new. The history of crying can be traced back to the earliest written records of tears dating back to the fourteenth century B.C. The rituals of tears are well documented and traced in the Hebrew Bible according to Tom Litz author of “Crying the Natural and Cultural History of Tears.”
Join us for a day of engaging breakout sessions led by our outstanding facilitators, delicious food from Cooking Dunn Right, and optional massages available for an additional fee. Through mindful practices, quiet reflection, and heart-centered conversation, you’ll be supported as you learn tools to care for your spirit, honor your grief, and move forward—one season at a time.
Every student deserves to feel accepted, understood, and supported after a loss. Grief can occur from any type of loss, change, or transition (not only death losses). For example: friendship changes, break ups, moving schools/states, natural disasters, man-made disasters, medical diagnoses, physical changes, financial changes, etc.
Anxiety is one of the most commonly felt emotions after a loss, yet those experiencing anxiety often live those moments alone. Grief can make us feel as if we’ve lost our sense of safety and control. It’s natural and normal to feel anxious or worried about what might happen next or even to worry that we might lose someone else in the future.
What do you say to someone who has just had their life ripped apart by grief? Their life will never be the same, and for a long while they will sit with grief and there is nothing anyone can do to change that. Let’s face it. Grief is awkward. So how do we navigate supporting and caring for those who are grieving?
When we go through something traumatic, our bodies react. It knows there is a system failure and goes into a “shock” which manifests in a myriad of physical and behavioral reactions. Grief is felt everywhere, but we are really only told how we will feel emotionally…sad. The truth is, our whole body is sad, but it shows us in many different ways.
I’m Jill, a professional griever. When I was 16 months old, my biological father left me and my 24-year-old mother for the day, took his small aircraft up over our family ranch, crashed and was killed. From that day on my life was forever altered. I spent my entire childhood and young adulthood grieving, healing, questioning, grieving, and healing some more.
