Alex Reed

I recently went to buy a new rug for my flat. This flat is the home that I shared with Jan, my wife of thirty-five years, until her recent death after a long illness. As part of the process of trying to adjust to life on my own, I’d started to make small changes to the place, and I wondered if a rug might brighten the living room.

Despite the wide array of beliefs about grief, the various models and theories, the different ideas about ‘stages’ and progression, the cultural narratives about how grieving should be done, the advice from compassionate friends, despite all of this, we each need to feel our way through this mysterious landscape, step-by-step, as the path bends and turns.

A question that friends have occasionally asked me is whether Zen practice has helped in dealing with this crisis?

Issue: only available as part of Journal, Spring 2017 pdf to download

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