Spiritual Resiliency could be defined as that special something that you can call upon to pull you through the darkest of hours and most trying of times. It’s the ability to experience transformation, healing and well-being in the midst of the human condition with all of its challenges, crises, illness, suffering, pain and grief.
Our Western culture seems to emphasize a ‘getting on with life’ attitude. There is little to no acknowledging the need for going inward and taking our time to grieve, which we know are healthy and necessary ways that must be explored in order to heal. As we get older, our losses mount. It could be the loss of a job, going through a divorce, a change in your health or the loss of hopes and dreams. Each time we fall in love with something in our lives that comes to an end, there is an opportunity to grieve.
Only by learning how to grieve can we hope to leave the past behind and enter the present moment with an open and wise heart.
This workshop will cover the different aspects of what grief is and what it isn’t. It will provide an opportunity to understand why grief is so important and why people seem so afraid of it. We will discuss different types of grief, circumstances which cause them and strategies to help us cope and navigate our grief.
But most importantly, this workshop will create the space for you to share your wisdom of losses with others and understand that the process is not cut and dried. It’s more like a spiral that brings us to a place of release and surrender; sometimes over and over again, but always with an opportunity for profound growth and self compassion.
Pamela Smith is a Psychosocial Spiritual coordinator supporting people and their families at the end of life. She facilitates grief groups and one on one counselling for 4 hospices and the Central West Palliative Care Network within the Central West LHIN, in the Greater Toronto Area. She is a registered member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care – as well as currently attending Emmanuel College, Masters of Pastoral Care program. In her private time she is a registered clergy with the Province of Ontario, and runs educational workshops about grief, bereavement and crisis intervention for the Elementary Teachers Association of Toronto. She is also a graduate of the Towards Stillness Meditation Teacher program.
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