BY DENISE TORGERSON
Prince George Hospice
When we hear the term “heart wide open” it brings up feelings of joy and love and warmth. I would like to suggest that the term is more inclusive.
Heart Wide Open is really about holding a loving space for ALL of our emotions.
Our society has taught us that it is wrong, bad or weak to experience negative emotions. We feel like we have to resist or hide our feelings.
When people grieve, those “negative” emotions come up. They are a normal part of the grieving process.
Anger, sorrow, fear, frustration … all normal.
It is not the emotion, but what we do with the emotion that will determine if it is negative or not.
If we can allow our hearts to open up to All of it. If we can allow, simply allow those emotions to be there, they will give us information. It takes more energy to resist something than it does to acknowledge it.
So can we allow our hearts to open up to the whole experience of grief, and love ourselves as we do the work, the difficult and uncomfortable work of grieving.