EXPRESSIVE ARTS FOR GRIEVING PEOPLE

Gratitude Posts - Friendships


Kjersti
I first met Kjersti in the mid-80s (shhh! yes, we might be that old!) I worked as a bookstore sales clerk under her management. I loved working for her, she made this rag-tag counter-cultural group of ruffians feel like a family. There was a lot of laughter and a larger than ordinary level of commitment within the bookstore staff. Kjersti was always a caring, bright and vibrant person, which made her a dream manager.

Later, I ran into her again in the late 90's and she told me - among many things - that she had become a life coach and a wedding celebrant.

So when my life melted in 2008 - this self-proclaimed expert at riding waves of loss knew this one was bigger than me. Intuitively I felt I needed someone who could be actively in my corner, giving me more support than I had.

I remembered our conversation in the 90's... looked online, and I found Kjersti, living thousands of miles away, but willing to do phone coaching, so we were good to go...

These are just a few of the ways she has shown up for me, sharing attention over my life and by helping me:

-- visualize my desires and how to bridge and traverse where I want to be in the natural flow of things.

-- articulate my desires and get better and better at describing them.

-- choose and revisit my focus every week.

-- carry out regular self-care. This is a really tough one for me.

-- eliminate any unnecessary tasks and activities. Allow myself to say NO - which is hard for me.

-- give myself credit for completing tasks and goals. (small, incremental steps count)

I am humbled to say that my dreams for Alive and Mortal are larger than me. The long-term vision includes online expressive arts for grieving people (eventually run internationally and in many languages) and writing a grief lexicon to introduce brand new words into the culture (because our words for death and grief are very limited and limiting). These resources will hopefully seed into a new cultural response to death, grief and loss.

If it is bigger than I am, I am really good with that, and working with Kjersti helps me to practice faith and collaboration - so that I am ready when partners manifest themselves to work on various aspects of these initiatives.

Asking for help is freeing. Kjersti has been a great asset and a beautiful person to be in connection with. Her website is HERE.

I am thankful for Kjersti!

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