Loss Doesn’t Need to Be Feared

A brief teaching from a grief expert

Grief can either be used as a tool to bring us closer to ourselves, and thus to each other, or it can tear us apart. We are so busy running from loss, like a child hiding from the boogeyman, that we don’t care who we knock down along the way, so long as sorrow stays far enough behind. But loss doesn’t need to be feared, and neither do we, ourselves. When we choose to use mindfulness and meditation not only to become aware of our own grief and how it impacts our life but also to accept the inevitability of loss and of failure, we open ourselves up to new possibilities. We open ourselves up to beauty. To connection. To liberation and justice.

Breeshia Wade holds a master’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago and completed a two-year Buddhist chaplaincy training at Upaya Zen Center. She spent five years as a birth doula and hospice caregiver and now leads classes and workshops for individuals and institutions on grief, injustice, and inclusiveness.