By Andrea Mathews — 2016
Everyone we know wants us to let it go. But it seems impossible to the person holding on. So, what does it mean to let go?
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CLEAR ALL
For most of us, our parents serve as elements of safety and stability, a constant amidst the flux of everyday life. When they die, we lose a tangible piece of that security, which can leave us feeling extremely off balance—even if we knew it was coming due to a long-term illness or extreme old age.
This is what it looks like when you grieve the death of an estranged parent. It’s this surreal thing, where everyone expects you to feel something—yet you don’t. For me, it didn’t feel like I lost a parent, or a loved one, or even a close friend. It felt like I’d lost what could have been.
Throughout his profound spiritual awakening, the great Tibetan yogi Shabkar experienced immense loss resulting in grief marked by raw pain, a sense of disorientation, sadness, and tears.
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"But now we’re asked — and sometimes forced — to carry grief as a solitary burden. And the psyche knows we are not capable of handling grief in isolation." - Francis Weller
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"Well, the Buddha taught that we increase our suffering through our attempts to avoid it." - Miriam Greenspan
Instead of the routine, "Your mother’s fine; we’re calling to inform you about…” this time the nurse said, “Your mother has stopped eating. - Sabina Nawaz
In the months before my father died, I asked him a version of that question: How will I live without you?
Losing a parent is among the most emotionally difficult and universal of human experiences. Most people will experience the loss of their mother or father in their lifetime.
Readers discuss how losing a parent changed their lives and continues to affect them.
Delayed grief is sometimes triggered by an event later in life, experts say.