By David Coy
Sunrise
If you have ever watched the Charlie Brown Cartoon by Charles Schulz then you are familiar with one of his classic phrases – “good grief.” Whenever he would feel dejected or humiliated (which Lucy frequently attempted to accomplish), Charlie Brown would exclaim, “Good grief!”
Is there such a thing? Charlie Brown apparently did not think so. He seemed to be eternally the pessimist. Certainly, he was fraught with bouts of anxiety and lack of self esteem. One of his claimed famous quotes deals with his negativity: “I think I am afraid of being happy because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens.” Sometimes we may get to thinking this describes us in our grief journey. We are rising every day striving to take care of the day’s responsibilities when we have a moment of happiness and we feel guilty. It is not right for us to feel happy or at least this is what we think at that moment.
Can grief be good and just how long we are to be miserable or sad before we feel it acceptable to experience a moment of happiness? When a positive memory or an activity we are engaged in brings a smile, this is not an example of real but assumed guilt. This is an example of grief progressing as it should. This is a positive movement forward; embrace it. Grief is a powerful tutor and is the necessary consequence of loving, building an attachment, and making an investment of our life with a person or activity we have come to highly value. All relationships come with an eventual time of separation. Nothing lasts forever in this material world.
If you find yourself experiencing that time of separation and you feel you would benefit from someone to walk with you in your journey with grief, we are available to fulfill that role. If we may be of service please allow us the opportunity. We are here to serve.
This is Sunrise Aftercare.
