Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick

Happy Valentines Day!  
Happy for some, not so much for others. Which side of the fence do you stand on? February is a difficult time for many people. It’s a time of assigned romantic gestures and social expectations involving flowers, chocolate and dinner reservations; that kind of love is only a small fraction of all the heart is capable of. Most people are aware that this is a disappointing season for those who hope to have a romantic partner but are we aware of the pain of the ones with grieving hearts?

There are many shades of grief and each person experiences grief in their own unique way. For now, I am thinking of the families we serve that are tending to their broken hearts: the new widow whose first and only love (and husband of 63 years!) died unexpectedly in his sleep, the daughter who said goodbye to her mom and best girlfriend last month, the 89 year old widower who buried his 62 year old son after a long battle of chronic illness. 

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A Broken Heart is an Open Heart

I came across a blog by Jamie Greenwood, titled, “A Broken Heart is an Open Heart”. Although the post is written about romantic love and a marriage relationship, the following excerpt applies to all experiencing a broken heart, no matter what the source.

​"Know this: A broken heart is an open heart. It is in the breaking, when our hearts are peeled back on themselves, that our truths have passage to come in and out...If we’re lucky, our hearts will break over and over again to reveal new ways of being, of thinking, and of loving...Yes, there is pain every time we’re cracked open. Immeasurable pain. And with each break, each sting of pain, our hearts are able to expand and strengthen our capacity to love more and more and more."

An Exercise in Mending

To help strengthen your heart, try the following exercise from grief recovery specialist, Paula Shaw.

Our physical heart is a muscle. Like other muscles in our body, which get torn in the “training” process and heal stronger than before, our heart can be healed through the pain and made stronger for the future.
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For grief counseling and support group resources, visit our website http://nextstepsco.com/resources.html