Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going to talk

about mindfully working through grief.

I'd like to read a poem for

you by Mary Elizabeth Fry.

She says:

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,

I am the Swift uplifting rush of

quiet birds in circling flight,

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there.

I did not die.

I'm not sure what you're going through

right now and how this poem lands for

you, but I think it's an invitation

for us to explore how we connect with

our relationship to others, whether

they are here or they've passed.

I don't think we have to take the

message of this poem literally.

Crying, weeping, sadness, grief

are all natural and healthy

expressions of a loss and are a

sign of great love and connection.

I think, however, what Mary is pointing

to is that our connection with others

often extends beyond their physical form.

Who other people are and how we

connect with them is bigger and

deeper than their physical body

and being in close proximity.

We're reminded of other people

through something we see, something

we smell, a taste in food and even

through a memory in our thoughts.

I think if some of the people I'm most

close to in my life and the majority of

the time, I'm not in proximity to them.

The majority of the time they exist as

ideas and memories in my mind and heart.

So as you connect to the people and beings

in your life, whether they're still here

or they've passed, what would it be like

to attune to the many dimensions of this

person and the ways you experienced them?

Do you experience them with the wind, the

diamond glints on snow, the sunlight on

ripened grain or the gentle autumn rain?

You'll have your own

experiences of how you connect.

But perhaps what you'll start to

see is that even if the person is

not there with you right now, they

are very much alive in your life.

Thank you for your practice.

I'll talk to you in

meditation and take care.