As we get older, loss becomes a fundamental experience in all our lives. Whether it is loss of physical capacity or anticipated loss of loved ones, these inevitable impositions must be dealt with. Yet, in protest, we may try to avoid them. 

The intensity of loss depends on what’s been taken away and how much it means to you. How can we hold on to what’s gone? At times, the grief is unbearable and we protest by quitting on life and going dead inside. We distract ourselves and pretend it doesn't matter.

However, I work with people in order to help them draw on inner strengths and not give up. Often, they are surprised to find it IS possible with a little external help and they stop trying to hold on to what’s gone, to let it go. This doesn’t fix anything but it does make going on easier and there’s a shift from feeling dead to feeling alive again. 

Whenever we invest ourselves in people that really matter, we are vulnerable to a cruel irony — the more we cherish, depend on and love that other person, the more we will have to lose when one of us has to leave.