The Soul of Grieving

[Photo credit: Pixabay]

I lost of my beautiful mother on July 27th 2021, and I find myself in a profoundly transitional time. A time where I am re-valuing everything in my life.

Sometimes the unexpected happens when grieving the loss of someone so important in your life.

After her passing, I started going through a lot of old photo albums. I cleared out all my closets and went through every single photo in my entire home, re-living some very interesting moments from my childhood, my teenage years, my 20’s, 30’s… It’s been an interesting journey back in time…

It feels very much like a life review. When you cross to the other side, you spend a period of time doing what’s called a life review. You re-live your entire life. Every interaction and experience you’ve ever had, you re-live. You see it all through the eye of your soul, through the prism your infinite consciousness. Every aspect of the now moments are re-lived, and re-viewed through the spectrum of an unlimited dimension.

You see with love and detachment. You understand at the soul level what lessons you’ve learned and what lessons you still need to work on.

Immediately after my mother passed away, I had the sense that, instead of her being in only one place on this earth, in her body and in her apartment, I had the strong feeling that she was now everywhere in the Universe.

I was watching a beautiful video by Eckhart Tolle where he said something that makes the most sense to me:

The form obscures God

And the death of the from enables God

The formless shines through

where there was form

That is what happens at the spiritual level. Through the death of the form – the body, the person who passes – Spirit shines through. The light shines through. The formless part connected to the form… shines through.

During the life review that occurs after losing someone dear to us, what begins to happen in the grieving process is a combination of this connection with the formless part of our form, the spirit part that is connected to our body and our life, and the new insights this perspective gives us. This shifts us when we look at our entire life as a whole existence.

There are many gifts that come with grieving. Grieving is a very difficult, challenging, hard thing to go through, but at the same time there are some beautiful gifts that can come from it.

One of the gifts is that our heart is so open, so vulnerable, that this opens a spiritual doorway towards true surrender and trust in a power greater than ourselves.

Through my own grieving, I was gifted a beautiful insight and vision. I experienced my own immortal self, my ageless self, my timeless, limitless spirit.

These gifts can directly help to heal what you didn’t know needed healing. Things like self-esteem, comparing yourself to others, or certain false values being exposed. You start seeing that what you thought mattered to you, whether it’s possessions, success, financial abundance, or even how others view you, these begin to be put into a spiritual context.

In the grieving process, that open-heart vulnerability brings to light what truly matters to you.

Every soul is different. Every human being is different. This is a great opportunity to reassess life with a new view. With new eyes. With fresh perspectives.

This can be very challenging as it may trigger the beginning of a spiritual awakening. Through the deep pain of loss, heart opening, vulnerability and life review, as well as through this new connection to the limitless soul now being felt after the death of a loved-one, a profound shift can feel like the shattering of your former life.

While there’s no denying that saying goodbye at the physical level is profoundly painful, there are also great gifts that come the moment the formless can be fully experienced, when a cherished loved-one has transitioned. There are spiritual gifts that can come from the depth of the grieving experience.

For me, the greatest gift that came from that, is feeling that connection with my mother at a much deeper, infinite level.

She truly is everywhere, at all times, now.

What I retain most from my photo album life-review, is the profound gifts that come from being present. Truly present. Present to this moment. Fully taking in the life that is being experienced with every cherished being that we love.

Only in the present moment can we experience the spirit in the body, the fullness of our loved-ones. To be present to another is the greatest gift we can give them.

As they transition, that spirit connection and presence we had during their life will be the greatest gift that lives on forever in our heart and soul.

And this is where my beautiful mother’s spirit now lives… forever in my soul.

©Michèle Duquet, all rights reserved
Photo credit: Pixabay from Pexels

[Spoken video version of this post on my YouTube channel]

Today’s Heart Whisper: Dog lessons for humans from my dog ❤️

Vlog #5:

Dog wisdom: dog lessons for humans from my dog – DOG VIDEO (sweet/funny/touching/inspiring)

Starring….Roxy!!!

There are so many beautiful dog wisdoms and inspiring life lessons my dog taught me.

In creating this video, it was such an emotional journey to look back at the huge collection of photos, videos and memories my dog Roxy and I shared in the last 12 years.

Dogs are truly amazing beings. Loving, loyal, innocent, joyful and the best companions in the world!

I was deeply affected when a friend of Roxy’s passed away on January 25th 2019 (one of my best friend’s dog, Max), and I wanted to create a video that could show the moving bond there is between a dog (my sweet baby Roxy) and her doggy-mom (that would be me).

In memory and honour of Max. Thank you for sharing your beautiful spirit. It lives in our hearts forever. (December 15th 2008 – January 25th 2019)

With love,

Michèle & Roxy 💖💕xo

(Here’s my mom (who’s featured in the video) watching it on my laptop… this moment captured in a photo makes me so happy…sniff… 💖💖💖)

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[NOTE: I created a new YouTube channel on January 7th 2019. This is my 5th video post. I post every Monday afternoon. For more content, please go to my ‘Michèle’s Vlog‘ page or directly to my YouTube channel]

Photo credit at 1:50, Cotelle Stevenson. Colette Stevenson photography website: Colette Stevenson Photography

Music credit & license: Running Waters Full Band by Audionautix Artist: http://audionautix.com/ Music use instructions as stated in YouTube’s Audio Library: “You’re free to use this song in any of your videos, but you must include the following in your video description: Running Waters Full Band by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/“

Tuesday’s Heart Whisper… Where does kindness come from?

girl s white and gray crew neck top holding gray wire fence

Photo by namo deet on Pexels.com

Do not confuse kindness with niceness.

Niceness comes from playing by the rules and hiding behind the expected.

Kindness comes from the depths of a wise and compassionate soul, no matter the rules or expectations.

Given the choice, I choose kindness.

– Michèle ❤️

 

 

Friday’s Heart Whisper: Ho-oponopono…

stack of love wooden blocks

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

Today’s Heart Whisper:

(The following is a short excerpt adapted from my yet-to-be-published book ©Michèle Duquet, all rights reserved.)

     Ho’Oponopono is a beautiful Hawaiian prayer recited for miraculous healing. The prayer was originally taught by Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, a beloved healer who was designated ‘a living treasure of Hawaii’ in 1983.

     Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, a staff psychologist at Hawaii State Hospital and a long- time student of Morrnah Simeona, practiced this prayer on patients at a high-security housing unit for the male criminally insane to miraculous results. He gained notoriety due to the strong documentation he had to back up the cases of patients who were healed. When asked how he had healed so many patients, he replied:

     “I didn’t heal them. I healed the part of myself that created them.

     Although a simple prayer, its effects are extraordinary. I use it often, and I never stop being amazed by its power to heal any situation by bringing me into my heart.

 

     The Ho’oponopono prayer:

     I love you

     I’m sorry

     Please forgive me

     Thank you

 

     This prayer creates a beautiful opening for love. With the words I love you, the anger and fear that have built walls around our heart can begin to dissipate. But what this prayer also does is speak to the part of us that is taking responsibility for manifesting what it is we are trying to heal.

     This goes to the core of our co-creative process. If everything, absolutely everything in our lives is a true reflection of what we are creating, then saying I love you and asking for forgiveness while also acknowledging our gratitude for having been forgiven or for becoming aware of what lives in us, this will heal that part of ourselves that created this. And by loving the other… we love ourselves.

     This is the power of love.

     Anytime I feel a need for protection, or whenever I catch myself projecting my judgments onto others, I say this prayer. No one can be expected to be perfect but this prayer can move us into the realm of love, healing and forgiveness no matter what imperfections or character defects are brought to light.

     Practice saying this prayer for a single day, and you will be amazed with the results. 

– Michèle 🌺

 

(Excerpted/adapted from my yet to be published book)

©Michèle Duquet, all rights reserved)

 

🌸My 3 Favorite Essential Oils for Meditation🌸

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Having more than 30 years’ experience with meditation, I’ve had the pleasure of trying many different methods as well as different essential oils that could enhance my timeless/space-less connection to a higher consciousness. As an aromatologist, I often explore the more esoteric side of essential oils and I’ve noticed that some oils have definite enhancement effects during my meditation, albeit at the more subtle energetic levels.

 

white and purple flower plant on brown wooden surface

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

Here are my top 3 pics for amazing essential oils to use during meditation,  and why!

 

1- Frankincense:

(To be used in a diffuser)

Frankincense allows the ego-self and transpersonal-self to work together, which helps free us from attachments. It also cleans the auric and psychic planes.

I know that my meditations are always enhanced, deeper, when I use Frankincense in my diffuser.

On the physical level, Frankincense has the ability to slow down and deepen our breathing, helping us breathe more slowly and deeply, which in turn brings a feeling of calm and centeredness to our meditation.

I remember a particularly strange event that lasted days in my house… For days my whole house was infused with a strong scent of frankincense… and I could not find its source. I could feel a very high frequency energy within my house during that time. And then it just went away. But it did leave me with a sense of that magical connection that is always there between our 3-D world and the energetic realms.

 

2- Rose Otto:

(To be rubbed onto the heart chakra)

Rose otto opens the heart chakra. It instills compassion and forgiveness, and brings in love energy as it vibrates with the energy of universal love. It is also a powerful healer of emotional wounds.

From my personal experience, something very moving always happens when I meditate with rose otto essential oil on my heart chakra.

I’ve also experienced the scent of roses out of the blue without having any roses in the room. I know it was my angels saying hello from the energetic realms!

 

3- Lemon:

(To be used in a diffuser)

Lemon enhances spiritual and psychic awareness while also increasing the connection between our soul and Spirit. For me this translates into a feeling of lightness and expansion during my meditations.

Lemon essential oil also enhances our focus, clears our thoughts and helps us to better concentrate. This makes it a wonderful oil to use during our visualizations and our co-creative practice.

 

This 3-D world is much closer to the energetic realms than we can even imagine… sometimes the veil is lifted through the magical world of scents! 🌺

 

close up of a defocused