Have you lost a close friend or family member? Your pet? Your job? Are you going through a breakup? Or do you have to let go of a dream in your life?

At the beginning of 2024 I lost my mom. I was in a shock state for several months, having sadness, guilt and anger deep inside me, but mostly feeling numb and only able to access these emotions intellectually, not in an embodied way. On the external I was seemingly emotionally strong and highly functioning with managing everything around the funeral, heritage, house etc. effortlessly.

In this time, I was quite often confronted with incomprehension, assumptions and even judgment from my environment. The way people experienced me wasn’t the “common way” how they used to experience someone who is sad about the loss of a close person. Many people couldn’t really identify with the emotions I showed and the way I expressed myself. Maybe because it was so different from their own behavior and emotions in times of loss or maybe because it is so deeply culturally, socially or religiously conditioned how a “normal and healthy grieving process” has to look like.

So, what happened was, that I felt misunderstood in my grieving process and I realized that many people go through similar experiences. They almost feel like an alien that doesn’t match the expectations of others, which puts even more pressure on them to move on with life in a way that’s expected from them.

But grief is a deeply personal and highly individual process. Everyone’s journey through grief is unique and there is no right or wrong.

I discovered my own, very personal journey of grief and I am still in the middle of it, maybe it never completely goes away. But I found a way to carry it with me in a way that’s resourceful and that allows me to live a meaningful life.

So how to find your own personal way of grieving?

I had a breakthrough moment on my travels to Lisbon, where I got fascinated by the Portuguese culture, their liveliness and passion and at the same time depth and melancholy. Modelling their unique mindset and especially the Portuguese emotional state called “Saudade” allowed me to embrace my personal way of processing and expressing grief.

“Saudade” is an untranslatable Portuguese term that refers to:

“An emotion full of melancholy, longing, nostalgia and luck” or “A vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present.”

For me personally “Saudade” means melancholy, nostalgia and joyful passion and pleasure that co-exist, that melt into one and another, fully immersed in the present moment. And that’s what we are going to explore in my session. We will unpack the structure of “Saudade” and how it can help to cope with grief in a resourceful way.

This session is for everyone who experiences any kind of grief or works with people who experience grief, from grief of a breakup, grief of a job loss, to grief of a dream that doesn’t come true or grief of the death of a pet or a loving person.

This is what you will explore in my session:

• understanding your own unique journey of grief
• new insights and perspectives to embrace your individual way of grief
• how to fully express your grief
• the underlying structure of “Saudade” and how it can help to cope with grief more resourcefully

Join my session to help yourself or others to access grief in a resourceful, individual and meaningful way!