Change, 9

Your nervous system interprets change as a threat. It resists the lack of predictability. It responds, no thanks. - Journal Prompts: My nervous system has not become used to... I need the predictability of...

Change, 8

There are days it is unavailable to stomach change. If today is that day. Let it be. Rather than gathering sand with a toothpick, resign for the day. It is more important to know where you are at today and work from a place of your reality. You can try again tomorrow to merge with change. - Journal Prompts: Today it feels unavailable to... Today I need to resign from...

Change, 7

Or you live in resistance of change. You avoid and ignore. Scream defiance. Disassociate on demand.

Change, 6

Change feels fake. Cues around you claim there has been change, yet your body has not kept up with reality. The body separates on cue, instinctively it responds, but quickly whiplashed. You are again reminded, that’s not how it is anymore. _ Journal Prompts: My body still responds to... I experience whiplash when...

A Journal Prompt for the Grief in Setting Boundaries

Setting a boundary triggers grief. Choosing to not be mistreated can mean loss of connection. Setting a boundary around a controlling parent, might mean less contact. Shedding the part of you that was okay for awhile with how it was, means you lose the comfortable and predictable feeling. Journal Prompt: If I set a boundary, I will grieve...

Feeling Your Way Through Grief, 5

Fragile. Grief is feeling fragile in places you hope to keep sealed and intact.  Like trying to hold on to eggs while riding a roller coaster. Journal Prompt: I feel fragile…

Feeling Your Way Through Grief, 4

Guilt. Grief is a magnet for guilt. You feel guilt that you did too little. Guilt that you did too much. Guilt that you survived. Guilt about your feelings, missed opportunities, and mistakes. When these feelings morph to a cemented state of being it chains you to the past and prevents forward movement. Journal Prompt: I feel guilt about…

Feeling Your Way Through Grief, 3

Threatened. Grief pummels emotional stability. Like yoga on a paddle board, the emotional self wobbles through normalcy in the midst of grief. Already uneasy, emotional collapse threatens in harsh comments, the mundane, in mistakes and disappointments, and unnecessary commercials. It's no wonder you keep a distance from your emotions. Why wouldn't you? Journal Prompt: I feel threatened by...

Feeling Your Way Through Grief, 2

Senses. Grief is experienced through your senses–your hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. A familiar song. Unexpected fluorescent lights. The smell of Autumn. Bites of cheesecake. The texture of a blanket. What you smell, see, taste, hear, and touch show up in your memory of what has been lost. Use your senses to feel your way through grief. Journal Prompts: My grief sounds like... My grief looks like... My grief smells like... My grief tastes like... My grief feels like...

Feeling Your Way Through Grief, 1

Without. Bobbing in feelings of disconnection and isolation, grieving is learning to live without. It's learning to live without people you intended to live with. It's watching from the outside the experiences you hoped for. It's missing milestones you expected to meet. Journal Prompt: I am learning to live without...