Holding Space Mourning meditations for miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss. Illustrations by Land & She Written by H. Laney
It’s OK. Whatever you’re feeling, it’s ok. This little guide isn’t magic. It won’t fix your loss. It won’t solve your grief. Love always, a friend. It’s simply a book of small moments you can take for yourself, written and offered by someone who has been where you are. Sometimes, in despair, our feelings can overwhelm us and it seems like we’ll never make it through. In the darkness of grief, when you feel lonely in your own body, please know that you are enough. You didn’t do anything wrong. Your feelings, pains, and struggles are valid. Call it meditation, call it prayer, call it breathing, call it daydreaming, call it whatever you want. Someone gave you this guide because they care about you. Sometimes people can’t empathize the way we need them to, but you are loved. Trying to wade through the wreckage of lost parenthood feels like carrying a heavy bucket of water filled to the brim, trying to not let any water splash out. Trying to live our lives after such a specific loss can feel like trying to hold back all the most important feelings and thoughts that echo in our hearts. Time inches along so slowly as we painstakingly move through every minute, every day. The day life changes in this way can feel like the end of everything: of hopes, of dreams, and of identity. On that day you gained membership into a terrible club, one whose members, like you, did not ask to join. Know that you will make it through. There is no schedule to grief. When it feels as though everyone has moved on and your grief remains, know you are not alone.
Imagine your thoughts entering your mind like blooming flowers. They can all bloom here without judgment.