What is Grief?
People grieve differently. Life cycles in degenerative droughts, and Life spirals in majestic, abundant tide pools. In a world full of distractions designed to keep us disconnected from self, each other, and the earth, let’s join in a radical act and connect. Instead of investing in the hollow, expedient rush to get you through rough terrain, let’s slow down and find the sacred and hallow places, fromsoil2soul, by tending your landscapes.
Many leading edge grief ritualists, trauma-informed counselors, and somatic practitioners agree that a multi-pronged approach is helpful in tending grief: a combination of solitary time to reflect and integrate, as well as collective time to ritualize grief with community. The definition of grief that most resonates with me is derived from the National Institute for Health and their research on the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual facets of grief. It is the anguish we feel from personal and/or collective loss. Grief researchers share that grief impacts us on one or more of the four levels of our being:
Mental: It impacts our brains, cognitive functioning, and mental health.
Physical: It impacts our physical energy, and different parts of our bodies.
Emotional: It impacts the depth and ability to express emotions.
Spiritual: It impacts our understanding of our spiritual beliefs
For some it may be physiological; for others, it may be numbing; a dwelling on the past; and/or fear of the future.
More About Grief
How grief presents in the body - Making space for grief in the body
The experience of burnout may mirror in some ways the experience of grief. Both are a response to loss. Just like burnout, grief is often experienced as exhaustion and difficulty thinking clearly. Are you experiencing brain fog?
Tons of articles about what grief is and how to manage it What’s Your Grief
Fatigue
Aches and pains
Shortness of breath
Headaches
Brain Fog
Inability to focus
Digestive issuesHow does grief affect your body?
FromSoil2Soul practices have helped tend hundreds of people. Grief is alive and constantly changing form. This work helps us become versed in how we embody grief. Let’s ferry you through grief’s varied landscapes.
A Grief Garden
Come gather online to share, reflect, and integrate grief. Let’s find ways to resource each other, and destigmatize acute and/or collective grief.
I offer a free Grief Garden online communal container on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 7:30-8:30pm PST.
Bring a poem, song 🎶 or BriefGrief share. Hold and be held. For people experiencing personal grief as well as collective grief, complicated grief, disenfranchised grief, climate grief - ALL are welcome to join. ❤️🩹
Click here to join our Grief Garden What’sApp Community for solidarity and be embraced by a supportive community presence.
An Antidote to Burnout — my TEDx talk
Similar to this expansive definition of grief, burnout also affects the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual landscapes when people push through loss, anxious to get to the other side. Pausing to reflect and integrate is an ancient practice.
What is Burnout?
1: the cessation of operation (usually of a jet or rocket engine) ~ Merriam Webster
2: exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration ~ Merriam Webster
WebMD defines Burnout as a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped. It happens when we experience too much emotional, physical, and mental fatigue for too long. In many cases, burnout is related to one’s job. But burnout can also happen in other areas of your life and affect your health. Burnout can be caused by stress, but it's not the same. Stress results from too much mental and physical pressure and too many demands on your time and energy. Burnout is about too little. Too little emotion, motivation, or care. Stress can make you feel overwhelmed, but burnout makes you feel depleted and used up.
Burnout prevents productivity and can lead to feelings of hopelessness, cynicism, and resentment. Burnout can harm relationships at home, work, and in community.
