Mourner’s Kaddish

Last year, I started going through A Mourner’s Kaddish Companion, a Jewish method of dealing with grief. I haven’t done it daily. It’s been hit or miss as I’ve dealt with all the messiness of grieving. But I picked it back up recently and it’s really been helpful. That whole five stages of grief is bullshit in that grief is not linear. It’s the equivalent of taking buckets of paint and flinging it at a canvas. The colors drip down off the canvas, blend in with other colors, stay where they are with no movement, and overall just looks like a wet mess. The Jewish way of grieving is very intentional. I’m not Jewish, but I love how they’re able to address every single aspect of how grief affects us – the sadness, the anger, handling the memories, and all the while, taking care of our inner spiritual being. I’m Christian. I’m Episcopalian. But I love how each religion in our world has things that can help us all get through life and be better humans.