Exploring Grace in the Wilderness

“If you’ve been hoping for a map to help

navigate your journey through profound grief, none exists.

Your path is individual – an undiscovered wilderness – and you are its first explorer.”

Alan Wolfelt

Two evenings ago I had the honor of facilitating a writing workshop for a small group of grieving wilderness explorers. Our mission together was discovery: can writing about difficult realities, sharing raw and real words and feelings in community, and using our written thoughts to create a picture of the truth we’re living, really help us move onward?

That night I met the grace of courage and compassion as it encountered despair and profound sadness; I met the grace of generosity and loving kindness as it surrounded those in deep pain. Through their shared words, this community of explorers offered each other the tender, hopeful anticipation of new possibilities . . . maybe some longer-lasting moments of peace, new clarity to explore different pathways of living with grief, more hope

I learned, again, that writing about comforting memories brings as much weeping as shared smiles. We laughed to discover that describing who we’ve loved and lost is almost impossible to express to another in only one, even very long, sentence. And, thank-you notes to those who support us are never written lightly.

At the end of our time, no one moved. No one wanted to leave their fellow explorers. After all, we realize that our individual wilderness journeys are long, deep and difficult, and finding others who understand along the way are to be cherished . . . just a little longer. So, phones appeared, pictures of lost children were shared, and long, compassionate hugs were given and reciprocated. Finally, we found our way to the door where I was asked if more writing workshops could happen. Off course I said yes.

“Writing Our Way into Tomorrow” - my latest Grace Works workshop - will happen again. I’ll keep them small because exploration into profound grief is tender, important work that is best written about within a shared, loving, wilderness collective.

Grace within our chaos is a loving hug away . . . give one, get one

Jane

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