Grieving - the Sacred Art: Hope in the Land of Loss
By Lisa Irish
Posted on
“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E. L. Doctorow
When I offered an update on my year long writing project, my friend said, “It sounds like the book is writing you.” He was right. Each time I dipped back into the words to rework, edit or add source material, I re-entered sacred space. I returned to a place of waiting and deep listening. I hoped my message was authentic and true, at least from my point of view, and that it might help others. At the same time, the year of writing helped me reach a place of honesty and humility that feels like home.
After eleven years as bereavement chaplain, I signed a contract to write Grieving - the Sacred Art: Hope in the Land of Loss ” for Skylight Paths Publishing. It was official - I was a writer. Thus began my journey into the Land of Loss. I knew the Well of Sadness and the demands of Surrender. I had traveled, over and over, through the agonizing forests of Passage. But I also knew the Fountain of Hope, it’s waters had soothed my journey and I believed my work could offer hope to other travelers in the Land of Loss.
Based on popular demand, we are offering Healing Loss Through Conscious Grieving and Writing with Lisa Irish again as a weekend retreat option.
I did not understand, however, the impact that writing a book to help others would have on me. I did not fully appreciate the influence of the writing process on my inner life. Each time I returned to the regions and movements of loss, I entered the emotional world of feeling stranded, of surviving, of letting go, of allowing transformation. My work deepened after each revision, as my heart claimed what I was learning. My friend’s suggestion that the book was “writing me,” gave voice to the gift that writing has become in my life. It led me to a felt-sense of my own healing and a return to my soul.
Writing and grieving are similar. They each provide a reliable, yet mysterious, template for movement through the unknown. As a writer, I may have a sense of where I am headed, but at the same time, I remain open to new ideas or shifts that ask a little more of me. Grief, too, offers a path to follow. If I listen carefully, I might find myself asking questions or facing fears that come forward unexpectedly. While painful, grief guides me through loss. Sustained by love, grief is my ally in the ways of Loss, just as writing is my muse in the mystery of life. The light that each provides shines just as far as I need to make the journey, one step at a time. My task is to keep going, to trust the great Wisdom that underlies the human story and to rest in the great Love that holds all of it.
