B. Said:

I would like to know what the Course says about grief. I find this
subject very confusing now. I found this as I was taking painful steps
to end my marriage, and in some ways my study of the Course helped
give me the courage to move forward on my own, after many years of
being a full-time parent. And seemingly miraculously, this have worked
out for me much better than anyone ever expected. I found a good
career again in a large corporate environment and I was able to keep
our home and keep my kids in the same neighborhood, and schools etc.
and they are doing very well in difficult circumstances.

I have so much to be thankful for. But I have a hard time reconciling
the 'human' grief process, seemingly a natural thing, with what I have
learned from the Course so far. I get that this is not real - that the
goal is to see beyond the illusion and remember who I really am. But I
still have all this grief that comes up from time to time from being
newly divorced (1 year divorced, 1 year before that separated). I was
married for 16 years, and even though much of the marriage wasn't
good; much of it was and I relied on my husband for support in many
ways.

Now I sometimes get totally overwhelmed at the responsibility of
caring for my 2 teen daughters, the demands of work, and keeping up
with the home on my own, and I start to feel very alone in the world.
Often I am able to give this up to the Holy Spirit, and find peace.
But other times I seem to get enveloped in the grief and can't find my
way out. The pain seems like just too much to bear.

Today it seems to be centered around planning a trip. I want to do
something with my girls before summer ends and I am flooded with
memories of family vacations and the knowledge that those are gone
forever. I recognize that some of this is 'normal' grieving... Oh, and
I might have a leak in an underground sprinkler line -- I didn't even
see the water on the side of the house -- the former husband pointed
it out when he brought my daughters home from a visit.

I know all of this is on the level of form, and in some ways totally
meaningless. How do I get this straight in my thinking? Thanks for
listening -- I suppose it helps just to get it out a little.

B.

Telling you it is not real is not going to help you, but asking Holy
Spirit to give you His interpretation of what appears to be happening
will show you that you are relying on your own interpretation.
Interpretations are not facts although our emotional investments make
our interpretations appear as facts.

It you ask Holy Spirit to reinterpret what you think you are seeing
and accept His unemotional interpretation your grievances will
dissolve. First you could see that your addiction to the past is not
grief but a grievance that is blocking the present from your sight!

There are so many reasons for grief yet none of them reinterpreted by
the Holy Spirit has any validity in Reality. You need to decide what
you want, and then, when you forget, decide again, and when you forget
again, decide again. Time will shorten the more you do it...

I only want the Holy Spirit's interpretation of this...

Robin