Seesaw of Grief

"If I am beside a great grief I throw barriers up so the loss cannot go 

too deep or too far.  

There is a wall instantly in place, and it will not fall.    

-  CATS TABLE by Michael Ondaatje

Everyone deals with grief throughout life and attempts to balance it.  What works beyond setting up barriers?  If too many walls rise how will the life journey continue without a door or window to pass through?  What teeters on the other side of grief to counteract its effects?

Creative write:  Define what the sense of 'grief' means?  As you progress through a freewrite about the feelings, return to the first time you faced grief.  Did you lose something precious to you?  Did someone take a prized possession away?  Did you receive punishment by having something taken from you?  What did it feel like to lose someone?

Observe where these questions take you.  Create images or use a metaphor to describe the experience of grief.  Then create a balancing experience on the other side. Is it relief? Acceptance?  Renewal?  What opposing forces or emotions brought you to a different place?