The Broken Umbrella
This morning, Namie cried a lot because her favorite umbrella was broken.
The first thing she said to me was, "Daddy, I'm sorry..."
She cried for several more minutes while hugging me. I told her it was not her fault and it's ok. She was grieving. So, I decided to assist her in taking to rest her favorite umbrella. We took a picture of it and then let her put it away in a recycle bin. I told her that somebody will make good use of her (the umbrella) and that she'll be ok.
What we just did was a kind of a grieving ritual. To us adults, the umbrella is just an umbrella, but to a 5 year old kid like her, it's a part of her reality, an extension of herself, a ‘she’; and losing it is a painful experience that needs to be processed . A ritual is oftentimes necessary to dress a wound.
Like Namie, most of us respond to a loss in the same manner and we need a ritual of grief to help us heal and let go. This process will not only clear some emotional issues, but will also prepare us to welcome and love a new umbrella…
Please, re-share
