Let it Go

Unresolved grief is a heavy burden for so many of us because we are unsure how to deal with it. Ecclesiastes 3 says there's time to mourn, but what happens when mourning lingers beyond a seemingly reasonable time? Sometimes the weeping that endures for a night becomes a very long, drawn-out, and overwhelming night before the joyful morning can shine through. Grief is a process and one that affects everyone differently. In working with patients in recovery, overwhelming or unresolved grief is a common thread among individuals. One of the biggest hurdles in addressing this type of grief is expressing or releasing unresolved thoughts, feelings, or words unspoken in life. For most individuals, these unfinished conversations or unsaid feelings/thoughts result in haunting emotions piled on top of the overwhelming grief, causing more significant distress and torment. In an effort to assist with these concerns, patients were asked to write a letter to a loved one whom they had lost or some form of gratitude for their time with them (poem, song, hymn or praise, prayer, etc.). Once completed, the letters were wrapped tightly and tied to balloons. Each patient was given as much time as they individually needed and then instructed to let it go. This powerful illustration may seem so futile and corny on the surface, but the lives that were changed that day tell a different story. As a group, we watched peers collapse to the ground, screaming in agony as they tried to release the grief of loved ones go; grown men sobbed as they reported they finally felt free after carrying the weight of the words they wrote for more than fifty years. What are you carrying today? What do you need to speak or write out and then release? Is unresolved grief holding you back? If so, it is time to let it go!