"A Small Bouquet" Oil Painting by Artist, NORA KASTEN

"A Small Bouquet"

© Nora Kasten

Oil painting on linen on board  (8"x10")   SOLD

"This small painting recently sold at "Sheldon Fine Art Gallery" here in Naples, FL.  A painting sale is always a good picker upper and today is GOOD!"

A Page from "Healing after Loss"  by Martha Whitmore Hickman

"We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full. "       /   Marcel Proust

     "There is no skirting around the suffering of grief.  If we are to incorporate this event into our lives, we must walk through the center of our suffering with our eyes open.

     We may be tempted to do otherwise - to save ourselves from this pain.  

     It doesn't work.  What we try to avoid will stay, demanding it's due, the pain compounding like unpaid interest as we add to the burden of loss, the burden of trying to hold the pain at bay.

     To be sure we can take "breathers" as we're able - and we need to, to keep our emotional health intact.  It is a fine balancing act - when to seek diversion and when to let the full measure of loss declare itself.

     We find this out by trial and error.  When the pressure begins to build - a sense of being pushed by an unspoken agenda - it's time to release that pressure by being present to our sadness.  Sometimes a friend can listen, without trying to gloss over our grief or burden us with well-meaning advice.  A grief group is especially helpful - people who understand that we need to talk about it - again and again and again."

Today's  Affirmation

I will be present to my grief, it is my only way to new life.

NORA KASTEN WEBSITE