How are you, my friend?
I’m connecting with you this morning to say hello and to send you a virtual hug.
I just finished drafting up today’s birthday kindness letter to a stranger and it has opened my heart wide to the grief and sorrow that lives alongside the beauty and joy of the world.
Every day in countless ways.
I want to reach out to you in case you are grieving a loss and you need a moment to rest in some compassion and care.
I also want to reach out to you if you are feeling at peace and grounded in your life. Maybe if you have a little extra energy, you can whisk it out to someone you know who is feeling low?
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Sometimes on social media, I tell people a tiny bit about the love letters I am sending to strangers. I thought maybe I’d share yesterday’s message with you, too, since I know a lot of people are not on social media.
Here’s that message:
I invite you to join me in sending some light and love to the mother whose 21-year-old son died suddenly just a few weeks ago.
It is an unimaginable grief to think of this dear woman having dinner with her son and his two sisters one day — and then having him die the next. How can we even fathom such a crack in the foundation of her world?
I keep all confidentiality around the identities of the people I write to, but I invite you to join me in sending love.
I truly believe that love is energy. I believe we can send love to people — even if we don’t know their names or where they live.
I believe we can create a moment of gentle peace for this grieving mom, by closing our eyes for a moment and imagining light entering the room she is in.
I believe that somehow, some way, our light reaches her and it soothes her heart, even briefly.
I believe we somehow steer a hummingbird her way and she feels its lightness and magic for a moment’s relief.
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Every day, we are surrounded by people who are grieving losses we may not know about. There is a quote by Socrates, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
As we go about our days, let’s try to remember that the angry person in front of us in the grocery line or the one driving too fast past us on city streets might be someone who is wild with grief or in pain right now.
If someone you pass seems unfriendly, imagine they are carrying a huge weight of grief on their shoulders. Love them, as best you can.
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Thank you to everyone who has been trusting me with the hearts of your friends and family who are grieving, ill, lonely, or lost.
We all need one another. I’m grateful for you.
Are you surprised that I called this a “Celebration Moment” and included a story about grief?
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I hope not.
I hope you’ve been walking by my side for long enough that you know how I feel about celebrating all aspects of who we are and all the feelings of being human — even the hard and messy and keening and weepy ones.
I want us all to take a moment and redefine for ourselves what the word “celebration” can mean.
It can be a way that we put hand to heart and honor all of who we are. It can be the way we whisper, “I’m here with you” to others or ourselves when they or we are sad.
Celebration can mean that we are planted firmly in the here and now and allowing ourselves to feel all the human feelings.
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We’re all in this together.
It is okay.
There is room for everything.
We are humans, doing the best we can.
I love you and am cheering you on, always.
Be gentle.
Thanks for who you are.
Seek celebration — even in the dark corners,
xo Sherry