Wholeness is a perpetual process.
Life can throw us into new experiences. And call us to manage changes, challenges, and developments, with as much balance as we can manage. Some events are unexpected, and require time and care to work through a process. Even when events are expected, they may have an impact, that is newly experienced, and requires assistance.
It is not every day that you lose a parent. And in the months between blogs, I lost, one of mine.
My father passed away.
We had a lot of history. And he had an amazing story. A life of his own, unique, quality.
And while I knew it was close to his time, nothing quite prepares you for how it may impact you.
I saw him, preparing to leave, as his health was waning, holding onto hope, for a delaying. And the inevitable knowing, that the most graceful thing, was to leave as well as could be. His life’s legacy continues, in the life he built, and the lives he impacted, while he was here.
Dad arrived in Australia in 1959. He left his family, and country of origin, rowing between shores, in a small boat, dangerously. He received political asylum for three years, as a UN refugee, in Italy. And married my mother, in a side chapel in the Vatican, before receiving his ticket to freedom, on a ship bound for Sydney. He assisted many people who arrived after him, to create a new life on the shores of this country, creating a new home, and family.
It is said that every child is born into a different family. And every person experiences that family, and it’s stories, differently, from their own vantage points, experiences, and perspective.
Many of my clients have worked through the loss of a parent. And the stories that impacted them individually, and collectively. And I have assisted them with it. Every person deals with it as their own unique experience. It is the conclusion of a life long relationship. One that is uniquely intricate, personal, and undeniably impactful. For some there are unresolved issues. For others, there’s a need to make peace, with the loss, and the grief. And for each, it is an opportunity to assimilate a life experience that has an impact on a range of emotions, patterns, and activities, while attending to holistic wellbeing.
For me, I went through a life review. I contemplated the limitations of the health system in his final days of hospitalisation. I spent time honouring and rethinking the legacy of gifts and learnings that he passed onto me. And some new realisations, and understandings, after his passing. And I am grateful for an ending, that was loving.
For the people who gave me the time to assimilate my own experience, I truly appreciated it. It was a sobering, and sacred process of grief and acceptance.
I continue to assist people who are experiencing the loss of significant relationships, applying psychotherapeutic aspects within my coaching programs and practice. It can be an underlying theme in challenges being faced concurrently. I offer a holistic process for managing the changes as they impact them. Please let me know if I can provide you, or your team, with the assistance you need.
SaraSwati Shakti
