Jessica was feeling the kind of guilt some of my clients express when they tell me they’re falling in love with someone – and they’re troubled because they don’t want to think that they are replacing the spouse that had died.
I could tell my Zoom session with Bruce would not go well. When the middle-aged, mustached fellow appeared on my screen with a scowl glued to his face, I took a deep breath and centred myself. Then, what he said didn’t make my life easier.
My client’s deep grief was like a tsunami that pounded through my video screen as we began our Zoom session. The sadness caught me unaware, even though I had meditated for ten minutes before the sitting (which I always do to open myself to spirit and my guides). But Beatrice’s sorrow was so strong, so raw, I had to take a deep breath. Then she told me her daughter had just killed herself.
Agnes was a cancer survivor – no, Agnes IS a cancer survivor. The semi-retired life-skills coach is still with us, still seeing clients (though not as many) and still volunteering at the food bank when she can. And she can’t wait to begin taking tai chi classes. To what does she attribute her positive attitude and optimistic outlook? The idea that the dis-ease she underwent was not hers; in fact, she was suffering for someone else.
While collecting stories for a book about people who work in hospice and palliative care, my husband spoke with a Buddhist chaplain, who explained how he helped to turn one mother’s grief into a healing process for her whole community. Here is his story.
Carolyn Molnar
Toronto Psychic Medium and Spiritual Teacher
