Your Path Home with Manners

07/27/2025

Ask if you are prepared for the answer.

For those of us who are grieving, answering the question “How are you?” isn’t always simple.
We often say “I’m fine” or “I’m okay”, not because we truly are, but because the real answer is too heavy to carry into a casual conversation.

Grief is complicated. It’s lonely.
It’s full of moments where words fall short, and silence speaks volumes.
Sometimes we don’t have the energy to explain.
Other times, we’re just not sure if the person asking really wants to know the truth, or if they’re just being polite.

The truth is, grief can make others uncomfortable, especially if they haven’t experienced a similar kind of loss.
But those of us who are grieving need more than surface-level kindness. We need space. We need presence.
We need people who don’t turn away when things get real.

So if you ask someone who is grieving “How are you?”,
Ask because you’re truly prepared to listen.
Not just to the easy answers, but to the hard ones.
To the silence. To the tears.
To whatever honesty they are willing or able to share.

That’s what kindness really looks like.
That’s what support truly means.

~ 'Ask, If You're Prepared To Listen' by Spirit of a Hippie

~ Art by Corine Ko

07/27/2025

💜

Grief is more than sorrow; it is a transformation that reshapes the very core of who we are.
When we experience a deep loss, the person we once were often feels distant, almost unrecognizable. The carefree laughter, the sense of stability, or the innocence we once carried may feel like distant memories

Grief alters our inner landscape in ways we never anticipate. It changes how we think, feel, and perceive the world around us. The lightness, confidence, or sense of safety we once knew may be replaced by pain, uncertainty, and a heightened awareness of life’s fragility.

This shift can redefine our identity, shift our priorities, and reshape our relationships. What once seemed important may now feel trivial; long-held goals may lose their meaning. And yet, within this emotional upheaval, grief can also reveal unexpected strength. It teaches us to endure, to cherish small moments, and to extend deeper compassion to others.

Though we may never return to who we were before, grief helps us grow into someone new, someone shaped not only by loss, but also by love, memory, and a more profound understanding of what it truly means to live.

~ 'In the Aftermath of Loss' - How grief reshapes our identity, our world, and our way of living by Spirit of a Hippie

~ Art by Emelie Jegerings

07/26/2025

We continue to grow.

Every stage we have gone through in our lives, from the earliest memories to the most recent moments, has played an essential role in shaping who we are today.

Each experience, whether marked by joy, pain, success, failure, love, or loss, has left its imprint on our hearts and minds.

These moments, both big and small, have woven themselves into the fabric of our being, teaching us valuable lessons about resilience, compassion, and self-awareness.

We often look back and wonder why certain challenges came our way or why some paths diverged, but it is through embracing every twist and turn that we grow stronger and more authentic.

The struggles test our limits, the victories fill us with hope, and the quiet, ordinary days provide the space to reflect and understand ourselves more deeply.

Ultimately, every chapter of our life, no matter how difficult or joyful, has led us here, to this moment of becoming.

It is a continuous process of unfolding, learning, and evolving that never truly ends.

And it is in this ongoing journey, shaped by our past but not confined by it, that we find the courage to move forward with grace, purpose, and a deeper connection to who we truly are.

~ 'Embracing Every Chapter' by Spirit of a Hippie

~ Art Unknown via Pinterest

07/17/2025

Anniversaries are hard no matter how long it’s been.

When the anniversary of a loved one's death comes around, it can feel like your heart remembers more than your mind can hold. The world may keep moving, unaware, but inside you, everything still aches. On days like this, give yourself permission to pause. You don’t have to be okay. You don’t have to 'move on.' You only need to breathe through one moment at a time. Light a candle. Speak their name. Cry if you must. Smile if you can. Do something that connects you to them: a favorite song, a shared memory, a walk in a place they loved. Let it be a day of tenderness, not pressure.

As the years go by, others may expect your grief to fade, to tidy itself, to take up less room. They may stop mentioning your loved one, or wonder quietly (or aloud) why this date still hurts. Remember: grief does not obey the calendar. Love does not expire. You are allowed to honor this day in whatever way feels true, whether it’s the first year or the twentieth. You do not have to listen when someone else’s comfort asks you to silence your heart. This is your relationship, your remembering, your way.

Grief isn’t something to fix. It’s something we learn to carry, with time, with love, with grace. And though it cuts, it also carves: space for deeper compassion, understanding, and presence. Know that what feels broken is also a doorway, to remembering, to healing, to holding them close in a new way. You are not alone in this.

Writer: Grieving Healing

Artist: Unknown

Source: https://ie.pinterest.com/pin/2885187257242630/

💛💛💛

07/17/2025

💜

Grief reshapes you in ways even the closest friends can’t always see. One day, you might show up with what looks like strength, answering calls, making jokes, doing your best impression of ‘okay.’ The next, the smallest thing, an empty chair, a song, a scent, can knock the breath from your lungs.

And it confuses people. They start to think you're unpredictable, inconsistent, maybe even unfair, offering comfort to one person but withdrawing from another, showing up for one event but skipping the next. They don’t see the quiet math behind every choice, what little energy you had, what emotional toll you could afford, what it cost just to get out of bed.

It’s not hypocrisy. It’s survival. When you’re grieving, you’re not living by double standards, you’re living without a map, trying to carry a weight that changes shape every day. And sometimes, it’s not that you don’t care. It’s that you simply can’t.

And the truth is, it doesn’t resolve quickly. Grief takes years, YEARS, and even after two, everything can still feel tangled and raw. The calendar moves on, but your heart doesn’t always follow. You find yourself still stumbling, still suddenly overwhelmed, still wondering when the world will feel solid under your feet again. And it doesn’t just change you, it ripples through the whole family, shifting dynamics in ways no one expected. Unspoken tension, distance, roles that used to make sense now fractured by loss.

Sometimes, in the fog of your own pain, you become less attuned to the feelings of others, not because you’re selfish, but because your system is overloaded. The emotional bandwidth shrinks. You miss cues, you forget to ask, you pull away when someone else needed closeness. It can look like neglect, like disinterest, even like coldness. But it’s not the same as cruelty or abuse. It’s not rooted in harm, it’s rooted in exhaustion.

But slowly, gently, the weight begins to shift. The days don’t always get easier, but you get stronger. And though healing doesn’t mean forgetting, one day you’ll find yourself breathing a little deeper, laughing without guilt, reaching out without fear. Not because the grief is gone, but because you’ve learned how to carry it with grace.

Writer: Grieving Healing

Artist: Unknown

Source: https://ie.pinterest.com/pin/20618110781565323/

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07/15/2025

So true.

07/14/2025

💜

The greatest way we can honour those we have lost
is by continuing to live our lives with purpose, joy, and courage,
because deep down, we know that’s exactly what they would want for us.

Though they may no longer walk beside us,
their love remains within us, quiet, steady, unwavering,
urging us forward, reminding us to embrace each day
not in sorrow, but in tribute to the life they lived
and the light they left behind.

In our laughter, they echo.
In our strength, they endure.
In our dreams, they live on.

So we keep reaching,
for the sun through the clouds,
for meaning in the quiet,
for hope when it falters,
and for the courage to keep becoming
the people they believed we could be.

And when we lift our eyes to the night sky,
we remember,
they are the stars above,
watching over us, guiding us gently,
reminding us that love does not end, it only changes form.

As we carry them in our hearts,
we become the living legacy of their love.

~ 'Their Light Lives On' by Spirit of a Hippie

~ Art by Jungsuk Lee

07/14/2025

So true. 💜

Grief is a quiet companion.
It doesn’t scream forever—
but it never truly leaves.

At first, it crashes over you,
loud and sharp, filling every breath with ache.
And then, slowly…
it begins to change shape.
It softens—but it doesn’t vanish.

You laugh again.
You dream again.
But beneath the smile is a silence—
a place where their name still echoes.
Grief tucks itself into the corners of your heart,
not to break you,
but to stay beside the love you never stopped carrying.

It becomes part of you.
It’s the scar left by something beautiful,
the evidence that someone once mattered so deeply
they could never truly be gone.

We don’t “move on.”
We move forward—with them.
In the way we love more gently.
In how we show up for others in pain.
In the way our hearts understand sorrow…
because we’ve lived it.

Grief doesn’t ask for permission.
It teaches you how to hold both love and loss in the same breath.
And through it,
they walk with us still—
as quiet and constant as the beat of our hearts.

©️Love & Loss

07/13/2025

It takes a village! 💕

One person cannot possibly do this work on their own. We are not a solo act. We are a team, and this team consists of caregivers, both personal and professional, volunteers who give their time unselfishly and generously simply to hold space and be present for another human being, any member of the hospice team, those who are preparing to say goodbye and are experiencing anticipatory grief, and anyone at a bedside holding the hand of someone who will soon take their last breath.

We are a community of compassionate souls, standing beside those facing life’s hardest moments, offering support not just to them, but to everyone who loves them.

End-of-life care is not something we do alone and our goal should be the same, to ensure that all human beings feel seen, heard, cared for well, and do not feel alone.

xo
Gabby
www.thehospiceheart.net 

07/13/2025

❤️

You never know when it’s coming…
But when it hits, it changes everything.
Grief doesn’t knock.
It just arrives.

Out of nowhere.
Middle of the grocery store.
Middle of a laugh.
Middle of a Friday night.

Sometimes, it falls like a soft mist.
Other times, it’s a full storm.

It can be quiet…
Or it can drown you.

And no matter how long it’s been,
You’re never “done” with it.

But eventually, you learn something powerful:
You don’t stop the rain.
You just learn to carry an umbrella…
Made of memories.

Their laugh.
Their favorite song.
The way they said your name.

That’s how you survive the downpour.

You carry the love.
Even when the sky breaks open.

07/09/2025

Our loved ones are always with us. ❤️

Though unseen, our departed loved ones walk beside us, still.

They live within the spaces we often overlook:
in the fabric of our hearts, where their love is forever woven,
in the silence after a deep breath,
in the warmth that lingers when we speak their name,
in the sudden feeling that we are not alone.

We do not stop loving them, even when they are gone.
Let the love we carry grow, expand, and flow freely,
not only in memory, but in the way we live,
in the kindness we offer,
in the presence we give to others.

Talk to them.
Whisper your thoughts, your love, your questions.
They are listening,
not from far away,
but from just beyond the veil, closer than we know.

Their love wraps around us still, gentle and enduring.
For love does not vanish.
It shifts, transforms, and remains quietly woven into the rhythm of our daily lives.

~ 'Closer Than We Know' by Spirit of a Hippie

~ Art via Pinterest