> 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
>