Embracing the Emotions of Grief

For humans, our emotions are among the most precious, mysterious and beautiful of gifts. Most of us are aware of IQ but few realize the significance of EQ, emotional quotient. Emotional intelligence is essential to living a peaceful, happy life.  “Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.” 



(https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/emotional-intelligence-eq.htm#)

When we are grieving the loss of someone dear to us there are emotions, that although we know intimately, show a slightly difference face when coupled with loss. While fear, loneliness, anger or disillusionment are manageable in everyday life, they can become overwhelming during grief. No matter how developed and strong a person’s emotional quotient, grief involves periods of emotional overload.

Embracing our emotions makes for good self-care at any time, but when mourning a loss, ignoring our feelings can lead to serious physical and psychological difficulties. It is easy to mask or ignore painful feelings when we are grieving, and it is challenging to face painful emotions. Each loss is unique and its dominant emotions are relative to our relationship to the deceased and the circumstances of the death. Grief is not linear, has no time limit; it is a journey, the emotions of grief wax and wane, so developing an effective self-care plan is key.

If you wish to explore the topic of grieving, emotions, and self-care strategies more closely, please join me this weekend for our quarterly seminar where I will focus on the emotions of sorrow, loneliness, anger/rage, fear and disillusionment.

Embracing the Emotions of Grief

Saturday, September 18, 2021 (this weekend)

at the Holden Senior Center

1158 Main Street, Holden 01520

1:00-3:30 p.m.

Includes light refreshments and a free book

Please RSVP by calling 508-829-4434

“Understanding feelings, talking about feelings, managing feelings — these are among the greatest challenges of being human.”

(Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Difficult Conversations)