Sharing with you a personal story and a poem I have written….

As my bare feet touched the ground yesterday, it somehow knew what I did not realise I needed badly. My toes curled into the green leaves beneath my feet and for a moment it held on to the ground as if never to let go. It knew that I needed to ground myself by feeling the soft earth, that I needed to draw from it’s strength. I stood there for a while with my eyes closed, feeling the earth below support and replenish me.

My heart has been heavy the past couple of weeks with all that’s been happening in my part of the world and elsewhere. By nature, I am a very positive person and I tend to bounce back pretty fast from dealing with challenges. However this time, the collective grief is like an unending onslaught of waves that seems to be never ending at this point.

To protect myself I had stopped watching the news on TV and other platforms last year and only read the newspaper or update myself on what’s happening as and when needed. I don’t really find the minute by minute coverage and analysis very helpful for me personally, on the contrary, I find it quite distressing. This does not mean that I remain unaffected by what’s happening around me.

While I feel truly grateful that my family is safe and protected, the collective grief and losses around me are impossible to avoid. These have opened up old wounds which have been lying dormant for a long time. While they have healed to a large extent, I don’t think the holes left behind by the weight of our losses ever completely fill up.

It is the only thing that allows us to grieve at our own pace and find the strength to heal in our own way. As I lay in bed that night, somehow the words that I have shared below came bubbling to the surface compelling me to write them down.

“To the ones we have lost

When the tears have slowed down…
When the fires have stopped burning…
When the ashes have all settled down…
When the sirens have stopped blaring….
When our lives have returned to “normal”, (whatever normal is in this new world)

I will continue to hold you close inside my heart ❤️
I will cherish the memories that I have of you
I will stand up for what you and I have always believed in
I believe that there is hope for a better world and that my role is important ????
I will do my part with compassion and love

Today, I simply ground myself and draw strength to face another day without you…”