Kennedy, whose father's death five years ago was a catalyst for her current work, believes the loss of a parent is the biggest event that ever happens to a child, ripping up anchors and cherished beliefs and throwing a person into an unanticipated limbo. Let feelings come up - and be honest about them. Grief is such a huge force, that if we try to yank ourselves out of it, we're going to pay a big price in terms of emotional and physical breakdown somewhere down the line. It might mean people who have lost a parent, a therapy or hospice group, but it's a community that can let down and share experiences. People tend to isolate themselves a lot in grief, and a lot of times friends and other family members may not want to talk because they feel overwhelmed or frightened by it.
Few people have a relationship so clear that everything was dealt with.
This is a way to say goodbye, deal with guilt or unfinished business. Our society knows how to hang onto things at surface level, but we don't know how to go down into the depths of ourselves, that very dark place where grief is erupting, out of which new life can come. Grief is a very natural process, a wise process if we trust it and have faith in it. Kennedy has observed that many people come out of the grief process with renewed creative energy and purpose. If we're willing to go into that experience fully and authentically, we will come out different than who we were going into it.