Grief Counseling and Retreats
Grief. The thing we share, the thing we dread, the thing we cannot avoid in life. Grief is not a condition, a diagnosis, or an illness. Grief is the natural physical and emotional reaction to loss...loss of a loved one, loss of health, loss of opportunity, loss through dementia. So many inevitable transitions.
Because we are not taught how to navigate this journey, we often miss the chance to transform our own journeys through grieving those people and circumstances that land on our path. Blue Lotus offers day and overnight retreats to explore the many events of life the bring us sadness: death of family, death of friends, death of pets, tragedy of suicide, the horrible inconceivable loss of a child.
Individual counseling is also provided on occasion by request.
Grief Counseling and Retreats
Grief. The thing we share, the thing we dread, the thing we cannot avoid in life. Grief is not a condition, a diagnosis, or an illness. Grief is the natural physical and emotional reaction to loss...loss of a loved one, loss of health, loss of opportunity, loss through dementia. So many inevitable transitions.
Because we are not taught how to navigate this journey, we often miss the chance to transform our own journeys through grieving those people and circumstances that land on our path. Blue Lotus offers day and overnight retreats to explore the many events of life the bring us sadness: death of family, death of friends, death of pets, tragedy of suicide, the horrible inconceivable loss of a child.
Individual counseling is also provided on occasion by request.
Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close.
Francis Weller
End of Life Paperwork Advance Directives
Although we all know we're going to die eventually, most Americans, over 70%, admit to not having completed end of life paperwork and/or legal advance directives. Blue Lotus works with individuals and groups to explore wishes, choices, and document these properly for future reference. We are not merely victims of a system that is poorly designed and works to further death denial and the prolonging of life beyond a sense of quality; we are autonomous beings who understand the value of designing our own experiences, our individual paths, and recording our personal desires on paper.
End of Life paperwork preparation is more than just signing a piece of paper stating we do, or do not, wish to have "extraordinary measures" performed should we be seriously or terminally ill or injured. There are countless circumstances, more than we can ever imagine or anticipate, that call for decisions to be made, with or without our ability to do so at the time of happening. Who will make those choices? Who will see that our wishes are carried out to the best of their abilities? Who will advocate for us when we cannot advocate for ourselves? WHO WILL SPEAK OUR TRUTH, OUR PLAN, OUR DESIRES?
To make these choices, we need to look not just at what MIGHT lie ahead, but at our story in its entirety. Who are we? What are our basic and most sacred values? How does our personality show itself in times of stress and change? How do we, in essence, wish to live and how do we wish to die?
Join us for a day-long workshop or a four session working retreat to look at your story...and learn how to translate it into final plans, paperwork, and autonomy. When we can't control the Universe, we work within it.
Death is the ultimate journey. We need to design it, imagine it, and own it. In doing so, we learn to live more fully with greater joy.