Weekly Connections with Brian Lafontaine July 27, 2025
- Uncategorized
I believe it’s necessary to sit and think about what is bothering you. (At least for me it was.)
While you do this, keep a pencil or pen and paper handy. Write it all down as best you can. This activity can be a real eye opener. What is one thing you want to “LET GO” of?
For some, it comes more quickly than others. You may hold on to and not yet want to let go of some things for a while and that’s OK. I held on to being mad at my husband for dying and leaving me behind for quite a while. I did get some relief when I did the “Let Go” exercise for anxiety and fear. Small steps are a good start.
Sometimes this is all you need to get you started towards healing. But, sometimes you need more help. You know how you feel and you want to — feel better, feel less burdened, feel that you are healing.
During my journey through grief, I was taking a Holistic Nurse Coaching class in New York. One of our instructors, Bonney Gulino Schaub, RN, MS, from the Huntington Meditation and Imagery Center in New York taught us several techniques for getting in touch with what she identifies as “the wisdom mind”.
The wisdom mind is essentially an inner knowing that is discovered using methods such as stillness, quiet or meditation. Schaub is the coauthor of Dante’s Path: Vulnerability and the Spiritual Journey. Florence Press. 2014. In this book, we learned the technique, LET GO which can be used to reduce anxiety, help focus and shift our mood or feelings. It is a simple, but powerful technique and can be used anywhere.
Find a quite place where you will not be disturbed. A corner of a room, a bench in the park, or while sitting in your car (provided you are parked, of course). Wherever you have chosen to sit, take a few deep breaths in and out to calm your mind and body. Let the tension release from your body with each breath. Note: Your mind may wander, distracted by noises, thoughts, ideas, etc. Just let them pass and focus on breathing and relaxation.
(Quoted from Dante’s Path, p. 184.)
allow your body to give way into the chair.
begin to repeat this three-word phrase.
Then follow it with the words “let go.” [For me — “Cheryl, Let Go”]
at a relatively slow pace, for about three minutes. [No need to count or keep track.]
When the silence passes, open your eyes.
This is a time for assessing how you feel.
Cheryl A. Barrett, RN, MSN, NC-BC, is a retired nurse with 30-plus years in a variety of settings: clinical bedside in ICU, staff educator, academic instructor both didactic and clinical, supervisor, home care education, editorial director of a nursing magazine and is a board certified integrative nurse coach.
In 2018 she published Good Grief: Strategies for Building Resilience and Supporting Transformation, inspired by the death of her husband. She won the American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year, 2018 in the category of Palliative Care and Hospice for her book. She is currently creating a companion workbook for those experiencing grief and loss.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed by our writers belong solely to them
and do not represent LKNConnect.com, its publisher or its staff.
