Updated Resources for Meditation and Support in Challenging Times

The following resources may be helpful in responding to personal loss and grief as well as the loss and grief associated with social and environmental grief.

This article, Grief and Love: a Buddhist Understanding of Loss , touches on the meaning of personal loss and grief and provides some suggestions for responding to it, including one of my favorites, the Five Recollections recommended by the Buddha for reminding ourselves of the nature of life and loss.

Lama Surya Das also discusses personal loss, and provides a meditation and a written contemplation practice for getting to know the nature of our loss and where our grief lies. It’s an excellent description of inquiry around the nature of loss that can lead to transformation. You can find that article here: Practicing With Loss

The following two articles provide a brief introduction to Joanna Macy’s work, which includes acknowledgement of the grief we feel for ourselves, for our fellow humans, and the world and all living beings. Her work focuses on letting both grief and gratitude connect us with the world and motivate us to contribute to lessening the pain that we see. One is an interview with Joanna that you can find here: Transforming Despair. The second is an article by Dahr Jamail, an Arab American journalist who describes his work with Joanna Macy and how it impacted his writing on grief and climate change. You can find that article here: Grieving My Way Into Loving the Planet.