wednesday, March 13, 2024 Quote of the week

“It is time for her to quit marking time and start doing something with it.”

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

When we grieve, we experience the five stages of loss. Like with any loss, whether it be death, health, or life happenstance, we have to go through the stages in order to reach peace and healing. I have used the quote by Hannah before, but I feel it ties in well with the second stage of loss, which is anger.

After denying the unthinkable…I can’t believe he’s gone, why do I have to have this disease, or I can’t find a job, are likely situations that might or will happen. Because it is out of our control, we become angry. But anger is good!

Kubler-Ross's and Kessler’s book, On Grief & Grieving, illustrates each stage, but in the book they write that “anger surfaces once you are feeling safe enough to know you will probably survive whatever comes.” For whatever you are grieving, anger is not a torrid emotion to suppress but to acknowledge. Yell, scream, rant…in actuality anger is a celebration that you are strong enough to move forward. Anger is good…it means you are finding your inner warrior.

When someone cries, we want to comfort. However, when someone is angry it ripples through us, and we don’t know how to handle it; being angry is not polite. However, activist and writer Barbara Deming argues that, “there is clearly a kind of anger that is healthy. It is the concentration of one’s whole being in the determination: this must change.”

Our anger from loss shears through us like a tropical tempest, but whatever it stirs up, it will resettle into a new composition of beauty and possibility.

Let out your anger. Discover your inner warrior.

wednesday, March 6, 2024 Quote of the week

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

Bob Marley

Walt Whitman composed a stirring elegy, “O Captain! My Captain!” honoring his beloved Abraham Lincoln. Whitman was a peace-seeking man, greatly disheartened by the devastation of the Civil War. Lincoln navigated the United States through a tumultuous time, yet he maintained his moral compass in doing what was right. Whitman’s poem exemplifies Lincoln’s portrayal of integrity.

As the 8th graders were completing their studying of the Civil War, I introduced this elegy to my classes. Dr. Jason Holmes, my friend and mentor, taught that poetry needs to be read aloud, so I found a hauntingly dark narration and played it a few times in class. The students identified the symbolism in the trip and the prize but also its integral extension.

Reading is passive, so I assigned an activity for the students to write a personal reflection with this prompt: If you died this very day, and someone were to write an elegy about you, would you be proud of it? That golden moment of teaching, the moment a pin drop echoes around the room. For the next ten minutes or so, all I heard was the gentle finger tapping on the keyboards.

After studying the tragedy of war and its effects, this assignment was the culmination. From something so devastating as war, came a thoughtful connection and model about human morality. Likewise, as we proceed after the tragedy from loss and its lingering grief, we also can carry forward and honor our loved ones.

So, what do you do with what you have left? Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist, states in her book Switch On Your Brain, explains that the brain can build integrity, “which means you are using your words and actions to line up the thought with its belief and feelings.” When my husband learned of his cancer, he proceeded to conquer fears and continued setting goals. Using the model of Jim’s integrity, I now honor him by continuing. I want him to be as proud of me as I am of him.

Jim chose to continue creating, loving, and living. He is the reason for this blog and my children’s book. He is the reason I tell our story.

What do you do with what you have left? You Create. You Love, You Live. Even when it’s hard.

Storylight A transformational journey SHARON M WIBLE

wednesday, March 13, 2024 Quote of the week

wednesday, March 6, 2024 Quote of the week

This website uses cookies.