Taking a Risk after Surviving a Loss to Bloom in the Spring

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Taking a Risk after Surviving a Loss to Bloom in the Spring
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"Taking a Risk after Surviving a Loss to Bloom in the Spring" was written for the Healthy Profits News, the newsletter for April 2009. The article is an extension of the chapter that I contributed to the Healthy Profits: The 5 Elements Of Strategic Wellness book was on “Loss and the Workplace: What to Do at Work When the World Crashes in Around You.” Discover how the changing seasons can be used to explain and inspire those living with loss.

Taking a Risk after Surviving a Loss

to Bloom in the Spring

By Dr. Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS, FT









After the long winter come the warm days of spring to melt

away the enshrouding white blanket of grief. The once white

landscape is altered turning into bright fields of multi-hued

wildflowers, as the lands and animals awaken from their

long winter’s sleep into springtime and life.





Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS





Without a doubt, spring is my favorite season; it is a time of rebirth and

renewal. The beauty in this time of year can be used as a way to help explain

grief to those living with loss. Poets and writers have used imagery of the

changing seasons to explain loss, grief and how people cope with life-changing

events. Author Molly Fumia wrote, “The season of mourning, like spring,

summer, fall and winter, will also pass.”





Images from Microsoft Clip Art and Maria Li Winter Forest, G & A Scholiers. Crocus, Bethany Carlson. Icicle Arch 2. Royalty Free Use.

Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote, “We must live through the dreary winter if we would

value the spring…” The chilling, bleakness and desolation of winter when plants lie

dormant and animals go into hibernation is a good description of the emotional state of

someone dealing with a loss. In contrast, the approaching spring with the emerging plant

and animal life is a good way to describe how a grieving person feels as she begins to re-

enter life and begin anew after living through a loss.





Grief Descends Like a Winter Storm

When grieving a loss many people pull back into themselves, like a bear wanting to sleep

through the winter, as the grief engulf and overwhelms them. I wrote in an article on the

healing qualities of nature:









Grief descends like a winter snowstorm, covering

everything in sight, in a mind-numbing blanket of

sorrow. When a life-changing loss occurs, it is as if

one has entered an eternal state of winter.



Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS



Images from Microsoft Clip Art and Maria Li Winter Forest, G & A Scholiers. Crocus, Bethany Carlson. Icicle Arch 2. Royalty Free Use.

Holding on to the Hope of Spring

The seasons that change in a predictable pattern year after year serve as enduring

reminders that nothing is permanent. In the darkest of times, memories of happier, more

enjoyable times can sustain us and provide hope as we stand like crocuses heralding the

coming of spring.





Like a crocus in the snow,

I stand knee-deep in winter

Holding springtime in my heart.

Joan Walsh Anglund





Holding on to the hope of the spring, knowing that days filled with warmth and sunshine

will return once again can help us get through the gloom of winter. Author Sarah Ban

Breathnach instills a sense of optimism as she writes about the seasons, “Expect to have

hope rekindled…The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.“









Images from Microsoft Clip Art and Maria Li Winter Forest, G & A Scholiers. Crocus, Bethany Carlson. Icicle Arch 2. Royalty Free Use.

Discovering an Invincible Summer



During the countless dark days and challenging times that follow a significant loss,

grieving people often turn to the ever-present power of nature for healing. Sometimes a

few simple words and natural imagery can serve as reminders of the strong forces around

us. Nature can help to evoke the internal forces that exist deep within and discover the

invincible summer. Philosopher Albert Camus wrote a wonderful description of finding

those inner forces to overcome loss, “In the depths of winter, I finally realized that deep

within me there lay an Invincible Summer.”





Learning to Live Again as the Grief Melts Away

Poet George Herbert wrote, “Grief melts away like snow in May, as if there were no such

old thing. We all know that in time the cold winter melts into spring. Over time, the

grieving person realizes that he will survive the loss and begins to start living again, as the

grief begins to melt away.





Images from Microsoft Clip Art and Maria Li Winter Forest, G & A Scholiers. Crocus, Bethany Carlson. Icicle Arch 2. Royalty Free Use.

Taking the Risk to Bloom





And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful

than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin





The grieving person eventually becomes aware that life goes on and staying shut off from

the rest of the world, from family and friends has become more painful than stepping

back into the world to live again. As the grieving person learns how to integrate the loss,

the winter of their grief gives way to a spring of rebirth and living a new life.









About the Author



Dr. Kirsti A. Dyer MD, MS, FT, CWS is a

respected physician, an expert in life

challenges, loss, grief and bereavement,

professional health educator, professor,

lecturer and author. She received her

Medical and Master's Degrees from the

University of California, Davis. Dr. Dyer

also has expertise in wellness education

and health promotion. She teaches college

courses in Nutrition and Wellness and a

graduate course in Grief, Loss and

Bereavement.



Dr. Dyer contributed the chapter on “Loss

and the Workplace: What to Do at Work

When the World Crashes in Around You”

to the Healthy Profits: The 5 Elements Of

Strategic Wellness book due out in April.



She can be reached through the Journey

of Hearts website, JourneyofHearts.org.





Images from Microsoft Clip Art and Maria Li Winter Forest, G & A Scholiers. Crocus, Bethany Carlson. Icicle Arch 2. Royalty Free Use.


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