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The Art of Grief – Sometimes It Is a Work of Art

March 8, 2018 By sgarrett Leave a Comment

I have often referred to grief, its expression, and the facilitation of grief as an art form. In some cases, as with a recent client of mine, using art as an expression of grief is the remedy.

A recent and still client of mine lost her daughter to an accidental death; she was suddenly and unexpectedly run down and killed by a car. Her grief was intense, as was her anger. Over time and with a lot of expression her grief became more manageable and much less volatile. Yet her grief persists into this the second year without her lovely daughter.

I asked her, “What do you think about painting out your grief. Buy a canvass, some brushes and some paint and have at it.” She loved the idea and asked, “Does it have to look like something? Can I stab it with a knife? Can it be colourful and bold?”

Obviously it was the right prescription for her.

I encouraged her to let go of the end result and any ‘thinking about how and what she would paint. “Let the grief paint itself through you, try not to over think it. Just let the paint fly.” I said reassuringly.

She did.

Here is the result.

Sometimes words just don’t do it.

The Alive in Death Team

Filed Under: Dying and Death, The Grief Journey

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sgarrett

About sgarrett

Death is one of North America’s biggest taboos. No one wants to talk about it, so we suffer bad deaths. We can die better, come find out how. Start by subscribing via rss or e-mail.

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The mission of We Can Die Better is to generously serve readers with contemporary, accurate, and well researched information regarding the intimate and important process of dying, death and grief and to do so with boldness, compassion, creativity and humor.

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