Photo of me receiving a Khmer water blessing for good luck, good health, and happiness. But also in my opinion, a grief ritual of release and renewal.
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December 12, 2023
Under the energy of the New Moon in Sagittarius and Mercury in Retrograde in Capricorn...
Towards the end of the year, I begin my mode of reflection and introspection, taking stock of all that transpired for the year. Tracking the highs, the lows, and most importantly - the lessons learned, I seek to understand the themes so that I may try my best in the next year. In 2023, my year began with Grief Work, and it will end with Grief Work. Grief for the death of loved ones, friends, and students, who have transitioned too soon for my own understanding. Grief for the families in Israel and Palestine, and the thousands of children who have lost their childhood. Grief for the Palestinians who are currently living through a genocide, being killed and displaced from their homes as the world watches in terror and anguish. This is a reality all too familiar with my family's own experience of living through the Khmer Rouge Genocide as the world turned its back.
Grief from the death of who I thought I was, and the transition to who I am becoming. I cannot help but think that 2023 was a year of collective lamentation.
Grief is such a curious, enigmatic, non-linear, mental, emotional, physical and spiritual process in how we deal with loss where there was love. Our bodies and spirits know the depth of love we experience from connection, and the impact of its loss. This could be a loss of connection with our loved ones, friendships, relationships, careers, homes, identities, or life transitions. We may not know how we will grieve the loss of something until it comes. And when it does come around, it sure hits. But we must be able to accept it for what it seeks to show us - our deep and enduring capacity to Love so we may not grow hardened from the pain we experience. Beneath the sadness and sorrow that Grief illuminates so we must recognize and accept, there is a deep Love that has laid its foundation in our lives.
If Grief is central to our healing and our growth process, then we must hold it with care and tenderness, as if we would hold our friends. It is when we get intimate with Grief, that we understand it is a condition of life - that everything must fall away or transition at some point in time. When we reach that moment of transition, it calls for us to allow Grief to cleanse us of what was, and be present with what is - to shed and release the strongholds over our mind and hearts so we can allow Divine Love to pour into us, and radiate outwardly.
So in the spirit of being present with Grief and releasing for growth and transformation, join me in reflecting on the questions below, from now until the end of 2023. May our hearts be filled with Love in the midst of deep anguish. May we continue to have compassion for ourselves so we may extend that to others and change the vibration of our Earth. May we hold our Grief with tenderness, so it may heal us in the ways that we need to transform.
Reveal and Reflect:
1. What seeds did I plant in my garden this year? (Sow)
2. How did they grow? (Tend)
3. What did I harvest? (Reap)
4. What did I have to prune or cut back? (Release)
5. What died in my garden? (Compost)
6. What must I celebrate?
7. What must I grieve to heal forward?
I'll leave you with a trailer from my documentary short film - a poem about the healing power of Grief.