The Artists’
Grief Deck

If I could say one thing to the person who died, I would… The hardest thing about life without this person is…....

Go outside. Find some nature. Find a bench. Watch ducks, squirrels, water. Observe your surroundings. Breathe. Enjoy nature....

Exercise is an important component to staying healthy and is a natural mood-elevator. What are your favorite physical activities? How could you incorporate more movement into your daily life? Can you...

Gather paper, markers or pencils. This can also be done with collage materials. Make sure you have colors and images that remind you of your loved one(s). Make a map of your heart. Where is your grief...

Release. Letting go is a natural process of nature. The leaves of trees fall as they turn into gold and drift lighter and lighter, drifting in the wind. Try to be like that. Feel yourself floating as...

Reconnect with the childlike wonder within you. Wonder that made you feel alive. Think about at least two things that gave you immense joy as a child. Close your eyes and try to imbibe that feeling. S...

I grieve not only for the losses of the present but also for what could have been. If I stay too long in my head imagining the things I won't ever have, I can lose myself in a spiral downward. When I...

"Don't forget about music during the hard times, it will help you." These were my dad's dying words. Choose a piece of music that speaks to you in the moment. Create an intentional listening space by...

"It takes 1,000 people for one person to grieve." Martín Prechtel Your village exists to witness this time. Your village existed from the moment you came here. Look around you. We will carry your gri...

Rituals symbolically connect us to the larger world and each other and those who have come before us. There is some evidence the actions in rituals may actually release endorphins, which can ease anxi...

Think about the feelings inside you that bubble up. Try to give them each their own name. How many feelings can you name? Once you name them, can you let them go?...

Find or create a likeness of your lost loved one. It could be a photograph, a small sculpture, an object that belonged to the person or something else. Choose something that represents them at their b...

Radical acceptance is a path. Equanimity is a goal. Five hundred years ago lived Akbar, third emperor of the Mughal Empire in South Asia. Seeking wisdom from his advisor Birbal, Akbar asked, “What w...

Look up to the stars, and listen. What are they telling you? What are they whispering to you across the light years? Across the 5.88 trillion miles that light travels every 365 days? From every annive...

In grief we feel the intense loss of a loved one. It can help us to remember that love is an infinite resource. The love we feel extends not only to those people, animals, or spirits who are with us,...

Find an old picture of a memory with a person that has died. Use any materials you have (pencil, paints, clay, etc) to recreate this moment with this person. Revisit this memory by sitting still and l...

When I lost my mom it was devastating and it was a hard thing to take in. Something that helped me cope was to talk to a picture of her and hold her ashes. This made me feel close to her and that she...

It’s okay to fall apart in the midst of rebuilding your life. Fill in the blanks: I have learned how to____ since my loss. I have overcome_____ since my loss. Now say it out loud while looking at yo...

Time is one thing we can never, ever get back. Having a chronic illness caused me to lose the experience of having a normal life by any stretch of the imagination from 2012-2016 and our current pandem...