Toolkit For The Rough Ride

When you’re standing watching a tsunami of grief coming at you, knowing you can’t escape, knowing it will change your life … what is there to do? One option is to dig deep, and call on a spiritual belief system to help you withstand the pain. Over the summer these tools were a tremendous help on the rough ride of my Mom’s illness & death.

A dear friend gave me “The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times” and reading it helped in so many ways. I’m now a fan of Pema Chodrun, and I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Another that helped was “Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care & Comfort at the End of Life”. Written by a hospice nurse for caregivers of those who are dying, it described the journey so well I wish we had it earlier in the process. I also loved this memoir by Meghan O’Rourke, where she describes her mother’s death & the grieving process afterward. It hit home so many times, in painful but life affirming ways.

All the kirtan in the set was meaningful at some point in the journey, and was used often as I walked or swam. Snatam Kaur’s “Sa Ta Na Ma” (Kirtan Kriya) played in my head constantly during  my mother’s death, and it was easy to sink into that very simple chant when things seemed too much to bear. The longer Kirtan Kriya by Guru Prem Singh Khalsa is an extremely powerful meditation, well worth 30 minutes of your time. “Vocal Toning the Chakras” was & continues to be an industrial-strength chakra balancer, and anything by Tara Brach is worthwhile …  check out her podcast.

If you’re on a tough part of your journey, don’t despair. Remember that Love Holds Everything, keep your energy pure and have faith — you’ll be given what you need to get through. Namaste, dear friends.

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