To Grieve Is to Love
September 9, 2026
There are so many reasons to avoid grief, or delay it, or tell ourselves we’re past it (or should be). We don’t want to depress our family and friends. We worry that it could seize us at an inconvenient moment. Maybe scariest of all, we fear that touching grief will hurl us into a chasm from which we’ll never emerge.
However, as Martín Prechtel writes, grief and love are intimately connected. Feeling deep sorrow over a loss means that we have loved deeply.
And in fact, to open up to grief is to touch the very essence of who we are. Walking with grief, entering into ceremony with it, making art about it, and sharing it with others will not make grief go away. Nor should it. These practices will, however, expand our capacity to love and feel compassion, strengthen our bond with the fabric of life we’re part of, and bestow on us tools we need to cope with future challenges.
Grief work reminds us of who we are, deeply, in our souls and shows us the beauty and luminousness we continue to carry, even at the hardest times.
I’ll be offering a journey into grief, Feathers of Grief and Joy, at Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin October 9-11. You are welcome, whether you’re grieving the death of a loved person, vanishing nature in the maw of climate change, loss of a home or career or relationship, or anything else.
We’ll explore our grief journeys through creative exercises and solo walks on Siena’s beautiful land. We’ll share a grief ceremony. And we’ll welcome home our essential self, our soul, capable of grieving and loving so deeply.
For more information and to register, see the Siena website.
***************