"Life is Goodbye Life is Hello" notes by Alla Bozarth-Campbell

I didn't have a lot of notes from this book from Ele's Place, but there were some good things in it:

grieved-injured, heavily burdened

-lost a part of my own self

shock-protecting us against reality of hurt, lest it be too great to bear

similarity between journal and journey

It won't last forever

If winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Goodbye means "God be with you"

The expression of gratitude is always a graceful way to say goodbye, even to a part of ourselves: "I bless you, I release you."

Time offers us the eternal present of possibility

Every loss creates a space where something new and wonderful may happen

"Suffering itself has no value; it is the use that one makes of suffering, through attitude and action, that can have value. Although suffering teaches nothing, I can decide to teach myself through suffering. I can teach myself to become more human and loving, more honest and powerful. Living through desperation and despair with courage and honesty can prepare us to be more understanding of and compassionate toward ourselves and others, more discerning of the difference between avoidable and unavoidable suffering, more determined to eradicate the former from our lives. Above all, through loss experiences we can teach ourselves a new kind of joy--one which is large enough to contain our pain and to transform it into a new kind of power, the power to make us whole."

"The more meaning whatever is lost had for you, or the more of yourself and your life or time you invested in it, the more meaning, the more of yourself, the more life and time will go into the healing."

-some cling to pain as a link to what was lost (Dad)

"This is altogether different from selfish clinging to pain for reasons of self-pity, masochism or to gain attention from others." (Dad)

"To all of you who are now grieving:
Take as long or as short a time as you need. Become an active agent of your own life again. Discover the art of possibility. The tools are your own creativity and faith. You have it all within you. You can do what you need to do to be healed."