The true aftermath of a loss is often in the day-to-day. It’s in the simple, ordinary things, like finding a belonging of the person you lost or driving past their favorite restaurant. This is just one of the many insightful findings of Brené Brown, a renowned research professor based in Texas whose TED Talk is one of the most highly viewed in the world.
It is important to note that grief is a vulnerable emotion, and not one that can be easily shared with others. It can sometimes be coupled with feelings of shame, guilt or embarrassment.
And while we all have unique ways of showing our care and understanding, those in grief often require a more sensitive touch. In the Netflix documentary “The Call to Courage,” Brené Brown discusses what it takes to choose courage over comfort in a culture defined by scarcity, fear and uncertainty. She also speaks about grief and the research she has accomplished when it comes to being there for someone who is grieving.
During this profound documentary, Brené covers what she has learned from trauma survivors in her 20+ years of research and experience. She explains that across all her interviews, no matter what the trauma was that they were recovering from, they all said the same thing: “When you are grateful for what you have, I understand that you understand the magnitude of what I’ve lost.”
Brené continues, saying, “So often we’re afraid to be grateful for what we have, especially in front of people who’ve gone through great trauma and loss ’cause we think it’s insensitive. But it’s really hard because for those of us who don’t want to be grateful, to show a picture of our child to someone maybe who’s lost a child, what they see is, ‘Not only are you not going to talk to me about your child, me talking about my loss and child is not on the table either.’ You know? So I think gratitude, in some ways, is healing for people, and we don’t think about it that way.”
What a valuable lesson she concludes with here, showing that gratitude and compassion are key components to supporting someone through grief. It takes courage and vulnerability for someone to share their deepest emotions and pains, and we should honor their journey through loss by being as aware and mindful as possible in terms of being there for them.
When we take the time to learn more about grief, we are more capable of proving more comfort to those that are going through any kind of loss or trauma. Healing is a collective effort, a burden that can be eased when we take care of those that are working to heal.
To learn more about Brené and her findings, please follow the link below.
Source Name: Brene Brown: The Call to Courage
Source URL: https://www.netflix.com/title/81010166