Moving Toward, Not Away: Why Facing Our Grief is the Medicine We Need Right Now

Weaving Grief
13 minutes ago
6 min read

A common theme we notice with our friends, in our own circles, and within our sessions is the weight of uncertainty that we are all feeling. Whether that be the weight of an unknown future, costs that strech our budgets, healthcare uncertainty and wait times leaving people feeling anxious, forest fires that remind us of our vulnerability, and conditions outside of our control that feel like they rock the foundation of trust, safety, and stability. Within all of these experiences, is our collective experience of grief.

As we often talk about here, grief is not only about death, it is the aching absence we feel when life doesnt unfold the way we hoped for it to, the sorrow that comes with disconnection, and the heartbreak we feel when our dreams are put on hold.

We are often taught to push these feelings away, to stay positive, keep going, and not to dwell, but the truth is we feel these things in our bones and they are begging to be heard.

At Weaving Grief, we believe that the only way to truly heal and alchemize our pain is to integrate it, and to move towards our grief rather than away from it. When we turn to face it, we honour the truth of our human expirences and open ourselves to new ways of living, being, and relating.

In this post, we'll explore why facing grief is vital medicine for us today, and how we can begin to do this sacred work together.

Collective Grief You May Be Experiencing

Every major issue dominating headlines carries with it a current of grief. This is of course not an exhuastive list, just a starting point, to invite us into thinking differently about all that we are holding, so that we can turn towards ourselves and each other with care and aligned support.

The Cost of Living. Wrapped within the costs itself, is the lost sense of security, and of no longer trusting that hard work will provide the lives we have imagined or planned for.
Delays in health care and support. The grief of time slipping away, navigating health challenges, anticipatory fear, or the impact of chronic illness and how has on our overall wellbeing and quality of life.
Longing for community. The longing for belonging is heavy and felt, the ache for community, eldership, and being wrapped up in the support of others is deeply felt.
Loneliness and isolation. We feel the loss of connection deeply in our bones and psyche, we feel the impact of community being fractured by stress, busyness, and the endless rush of to-dos.
Climate impacts. We feel the grief for the earth, of fires, floods, and environmental destruction.

We may not always call these experiences grief, but our bodies know, whether we name it or not. Anxiety, exhustaion, numbness, and disconnection are often some of griefs companion emotions.

When we don't name grief, we internalize it. It becomes burnout, hopelessness, and despiar. Facing grief together, however, allows us to release, integrate, and transform.

Why Avoidance Doesn't Work

So often grief is approahced as a problem to solve, but if you've been here awhile, you know that we don't see it that way. The message we recieve is clear: push it down, keep busy, get over it. But avoidance doesn't make grief disappear, it only intensifies it, futher isolates us, and burries it deeper. Our bodies remember.

When we turn away from grief, it grows. It shows up in strained relationships, short tempers or emotional reactivity, endless scrolling, and sleepless nights. We live with the constant buzz of something unprocessed and incomplete.

The truth is: grief demands our attention, and moving towards grief, means choosing to hear what it has to say.

Moving Towards Grief: The Weaving Grief Philosophy

At Weaving Grief, we hold a simple yet important belief:

Grief is not a problem to fix or solve. Grief is the sacred work that reconnects us to our aliveness.

When we move towards our grief, and build a relationship with it, we:

Honour the truth of what has been lost
Reclaim our connection to our bodies, emotions, and communities
Access a deeper sense of aliveness on the other side of our sorrow
Create change by allowing grief to fuel action and movement, rather than stagnation and stuck-ness

When we choose to be with grief, and choose presence over denial or surpession, we make space for the truth and fullness of our human experience. Though tears, story, ritual, gathering, remembering, stillness, and presence, we open the doorway to deeper meaning and expand our aliveness.

Practices for Moving Towards Grief

Facing grief requires tenderness. Here are a few gentle practices to get you started rooted in what we teach here at Weaving Grief:

01. Name the Loss

Begin by identifying the grief beneath the surface. Are you grieving the loss of safety, security, time, trust, connection, or something else? Naming our grief helps to bring it out of the shadows, makes it real, and begins to externalize it (letting it live outside of us).

02. Somatic Grounding

Our emotions, especially our grief are felt in our bodies. Try some of these simple practies:

Place a hand on your heart, and one on your belly, breathe life into the sensation of heaviness.
Walk barefoot on the earth, allowing the ground to hold what feels too heavy to carry.
Shake your body and move your limbs to help support the release of griefs tension.
Try out these gentle meditations for when the waves of grief rise.

03. Create Ritual

Light a candle, write your grief, or create an alter with objects that symbolize what you are holding and what you've lost. Ritual helps to give form to our grief, helping to give it space to live outside of our bodies, and reminding us that is deserves space, care, and honouring.

04. Tell Your Story

Share your grief with a trusted friend, grief therapist or circle. Speaking grief outloud transforms isolation into shared connection and belonging, helping to (re)weave the village mind.

05. Collective Grieving

Attend community vigils, ceremonies, or circles. Collective grief reminds us that our strugles are shared and that healing often happens when we circle up together.

The Wise Medicine of Grief

When we choose to be with grief, we reclaim something powerful, our own agency.

Being with grief can help us make aligned choices around our values, whats important, and how we cant to live and relate with one another
Grief can be an active force that moved energy into action, and may fuel advocacy and/or systemic change
Experiencing the grief of our isolation and lonliness can move us towards (re)building circles of connection and communities that care about one another
Facing the grief we feel for the world, can ignite and inspire regenertaive action

Grief when honoured, becomes medicine. It softens us, grounds us, and points us towards what matters most.

When Grief is Woven Into Collective Care

Imagine what we could shift if we collectively honoured grief instead of pushing it away,

We could feel and experience the full range of our humanness
Policies might reflect compassion rather than avoidance
Communties may emerge, with care, collaboration, and connection at the heart
Indiviudals may experience resilience, rather than numbness

Being with grief is not just a personal journey, but a collective and cultural one. Grief work is how we build a future rooted in integrity, belonging, and aliveness.

Invitation Forward

In these uncertain times, grief is not a burden to escape from but an invittion to deeper, to expand. But first we must go inward, and contract. By moving towards our grief, we honour the truth of our human experiences and create space for new life to emerge.

About Us:

Weaving Grief specializes in compassionate grief therapy for individuals navigating loss of any kind - death, breakups, relationship transitions, chronic illness, loss of self, and more. By addressing these profound experiences, Weaving Grief empowers clients to grieve freely and live fully. Through somatic practices and meaningful reflection, we’re here to help you navigate these tender moments and rediscover the fullness of life.

Specific areas of focus: death of a loved one (recent or past), life changing transitions, relationship transitions and break ups, pregnancy loss, grief around family planning, chronic illness, loss of Self, and supporting entrepreneurs through the grief that comes with growth.

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In this blog post: Discover why moving toward grief, not away from it, is essential for Canadians navigating financial stress, healthcare struggles, loneliness, and climate change. Explore compassionate practices rooted in Weaving Grief’s philosophy to transform pain into aligned action and renewed possibility.