OCTOBER 2025 . . . OUR TIMES OF ON-GOING GRIEF
We are living in challenging times that include ongoing waves of grief for how our world, country and lives have changed. What began with the Pandemic has continued to challenge us with all the polarization and uncertainty. We’re grieving for what life used to be as well as for what we wish it could be. We are doing this process individually as well as collectively. It's time to learn to do it all with more grace, compassion and peace.
We can learn to respond rather than react when we recognize the patterns and processes that we are experiencing. As with classic grief, these responses are non-linear and invite us to be more profoundly present and authentic amid life. I imagine you’ll recognize how you’ve been dancing amid these steps from day-to-day and hour-to-hour.
Here are the seven steps . . . we can remember to Respond rather than React:
Shock/Disbelief . . . Denial . . . Pain & Guilt (fear, anxiety, regret) . . . Bargaining & Anger (frustration, helplessness) . . . Depression (beginning to accept) . . . Testing/Upward Turn (adjusting to new reality) . . . Acceptance (integration)
Call and Response to Life . . . .The 4 A’s to BE PRESENT and EXPLORE MYSTERY
- ACCEPT where you are . . . what season? Time to plant, garden, harvest, rest
- AFFIRM the presence of Godde in all . . . The Golden Key by Emmet Fox
- ADAPT to what is . . . new ways to thrive and express and grow
- APPRECIATE what you have . . . recognize the blessings already present
Gospel of Philip Analogue 28 . . . Love and Faith “Faith receives and love gives. Without faith no one can receive, and no one can give who does not love. We are, therefore, made to trust in order that we may receive, and caused to love in order that we might give. For if one gives without love, there is no benefit in the giving. Anyone unreceptive to the transcendent continues on in lower realities.”
Joan Chittster in Wisdom Distilled from the Daily “Daily life is the stuff of which high sanctity can be made. But just about nobody I have ever met, however, really thinks it is easily possible . . . If we are not spiritual where we are and as we are, we are not spiritual at all.”
Christina Baldwin in The Seven Whispers “The covenant made with the angel is not about leading an ordinary or extra- ordinary life in any terms I have understood, but about leading whatever life we have with extraordinary attention to God’s call and our response: our call and God’s response.”
"Guidance for Turbulent Times"
Recently, I shared these wonderful ways on how we can live together with compassion, wisdom and peace during these turbulent times. Laura Petrecca wrote this for USA Today 11/7/16 where it was published as A 12 Step Plan to Heal America : Uniting a Divided Nation.
Feel free to scream (privately) or sing out loud/dance/run on the beach ~ get it out- Practice acceptance ~ Start fresh ~ Accept even if disagree ~ fighting prolongs
- Take action ~ what you can do to make a difference ~ not helpless/focus passion
- Create an exit plan ~ not leave US ~ gracefully exit and diffuse tensions daily
- Heed your early warning signs ~ pay attention to body/thoughts ~ know triggers
- Manage your exposure ~ don’t engage with angry discourse ~ avoid triggers
- Think broadly ~ practice kindness/empathy beyond points of disagreement
- Build a support system ~ venting okay but seek those who help shift to goodness
- Slow down & self-soothe ~ great time to learn meditation/prayer/self-care
- Be thankful ~ look for even small things ~ feed your brain/heart positive things
- Get some perspective ~ do comedy, not news ~ be with family/friends/pets/nature
- Model good behavior ~ manage success/disappointment ~ help/tend ~ resiliency