By David Coy
Sunrise
When someone is early in the beginning of their journey with grief, they may experience a moment of laughter or joy and immediately or soon thereafter feel guilty for the experience. Many people have told me they did not think or feel they had the right to that moment of laughter or joy. Our journey with grief is a complicated one. Trying to understand ourselves while in the midst of grief can be difficult. Beginning any journey can have moments of doubt and uncertainty in what direction to take or even what is the right way to feel. Have you ever experienced the above? Proverbs 14:13 says, “Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.” Joy or laughter may momentarily arise within our journey yet our heaviness of heart remains. Each person knows best their own sorrow and joys. No one should feel guilty for long as it is natural for a memory that is positive to bring laughter to our lips. It is also natural for us to feel guilty for our laughter also. Our grief can be challenging to understand within ourselves, especially as our emotions vary from one to the next.
There is another way of looking and understanding this. Comfort may come in small moments of joy or laughter that give us reprieve from our heaviness. We can choose to look upon these moments of joy as blessings and in this way may lesson feelings of guilt. We will likely experience a multitude of emotions from beginning to the end of our journey when we have healed sufficient to feel at ease and content with whom we have become. With support of others around the healing of sorrow will eventually give way to a brighter positive outlook. We look forward to seeing you in support group this week.
This is Sunrise Aftercare.
