Two Truths You Can Carry at Once

There is a line from Rumi that I return to often:

"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop."

I invite you to sit with that for a moment.

Because what if that's not just poetry - what if it's actually true? What if you carry within you something vast, something that existed before this particular life and will continue after it?

We are so accustomed to experiencing ourselves as purely human. We feel the weight of grief, the ache of missing someone, the exhaustion of navigating loss in a body that wasn't built to bear it easily. That part is real and it matters.

But maybe - and I offer this gently - that's only part of the picture.

What if the part of you that senses your loved one's presence in a quiet moment isn't wishful thinking? What if the knowing that came to you in a dream, or the warmth you felt when their favorite song came on, was your soul recognizing something your mind can't quite hold?

We are human and soul, simultaneously. The human part grieves. The soul part remembers.

I don't think we're meant to bypass the grief in favor of the soul perspective - that would dishonor the love associated with the loss in the first place. But I do believe we can hold both.

That we can feel the missing and also feel the continuing connection. That death changes the form of love but not its presence.

This isn't something you have to take on faith. It's something you can explore, at whatever pace feels right for you.

In peace,

Johanna