The Artists’
Grief Deck

Exercise is an important component to staying healthy and is a natural mood-elevator. What are your favorite physical activities? How could you incorporate more movement into your daily life? Can you...

Upon lighting — becoming aware of anything you are grieving or wanting to honor as it is lost to the earth and the stars — (ex. a person, or beliefs about this country, world, a relationship, a pa...

Get out some paints and let your mind relax. Paint large strokes or circles – It doesn’t have to be anything you recognize. Give each color a feeling, if you desire, and pick which colors you want...

The musing below helps me let go. Whenever we paint our nails, we are more aware of the bones of the fingers. Take those moments with your body. The tick marks of my life that used to hold milestones...

In the early days of grieving, some depressive symptoms are certainly present and normal. However, going forward, significant depression, exhibited in such ways as an inability to experience pleasure,...

I wish......

This piece, What Is To Come, derives from a time that I observed my husband sitting for a long moment in contemplation. He had just returned home to us after serving time in federal and immigration detention centers.

When I gather the fragments together, nothing makes sense. Everything is scattered and haphazard. But something may catch my eye, something accidental and unexpected. A color combination, a shape I ha...

What do we do simply for beauty or love or joy? What do we do to enrich others? We spend so much of our lives shuttling ourselves from home to work and back again, sometimes losing sight of our humani...

Remember a vanished place of personal importance. Describe it, by writing or speaking of it....

Imagine a vase with flowers and those flowers are the person you are missing (if you have a vase and real flowers, this will work). Now imagine the smell of the flowers and picture the person. Does th...

Worries seem to swirl around us sometimes. Some clang loudly, some whisper. Take a few deep breaths and call up one of your worries or concerns. Hold it for a moment in your imagination, then let it l...

My mother always said tears are cleansing for the soul. But sometimes the tears just won't come. Sit in a quiet place that can get wet. Wear something white. Put on music that calms you. Perhaps, ligh...

Try to create space in your mind and heart and take three deep breaths. Then Remember there is no "right" way to grieve. This is a personal process and there is no time limit....

Hold a hand, Hold the hand of your lost one, your beloved, the hand of the being who haunts you. And when you become accustomed to the deep presence of the absence hold any hand, your lover’s hand,...

Losing someone or something important to us brings home the fact there is much in life we cannot control. Control is something we thought we had, but ultimately there are many things in life we cannot...

Regret may come with your grief. "If only", "I shouldn't have...", "I wish I..." The feeling of regret can be crushing but most emotions are here to serve you. Your regret tries to teach you what to d...

Grief is a four-dimensional possession. It fills some part of this room, and it also reaches back in time and toward the future. First study how 3D objects are enclosed: how 2D cloth or paper can be l...

Set up a clean space at a flat work surface, and grab two things: a favorite pen or marker. a stack of blank paper. In the first attempts at this practice, it can be helpful to set a timer. Start with...