Day One: The healing heart

Today's focus: I'm going to extend love and kindness to the parts of me that hurt right now.

Think of daily affirmations as an exercise for your brain. In our grief, this can act as subconscious reminders to help us navigate through negative thought patterns. We’ve created these as a focus on what we want to create. You may want to write them down in a place you will see as you go about your day. 

Daily affirmations can work like a gentle reset for your mind. When grief takes over (and it will), these reminders can help guide you back to what you actually need. Write them somewhere you'll see them - your mirror, phone, or wherever feels right for you.

Let's be honest - when grief hits hard, our first instinct is often to shut it down. We push people away, stay busy, or tell everyone we're fine when we're clearly not. We don't want to burden anyone with our pain.

Here's what I want you to remember: your love is still there, even in the darkest moments. Instead of fighting your grief or trying to make it disappear, what if you could let it coexist with love?

Think of it this way - all your feelings can exist together: sadness with love, anger with love, guilt with love, resentment with love. You don't have to choose. Love doesn't erase the pain, but it can support you when grief feels overwhelming.

When you lose a pet, you're losing a family member. It's completely natural to grieve deeply and struggle with intense emotions. Don't let anyone minimize that loss.

Today's practice:

A simple self-guided heart-centered meditation

Find a comfortable place to sit. Close your eyes.

Place your left hand on your heart, right hand on top.

Let your mind settle. Don't worry about doing this perfectly.

Take a few deep breaths and let your body relax.

Feel your heartbeat under your palm. Your heart holds so much - all that love you shared, the compassion, the bond you had.

Just breathe into that space. Whatever comes up is okay. There's nothing to fix right now.

Stay with this for as long as feels comfortable - even 3-5 minutes helps.

When you're ready, open your eyes. If you'd like, jot down any thoughts or feelings that came up. Sometimes our hearts have messages we weren't expecting.