Left-Over Love

By Being Human

Notes on grief, healing, and the energy we carry forward – when love no longer has a place to go, but still longs to be felt.

People often ask about grief –
“Will the pain ever quieten, or go away – will I ever heal?”

The truth is, in the beginning, there will be moments – as the days pass – moments will become minutes, and soon enough hours. As the weeks and months pass, minutes will become hours and then days. Yes, it will quieten. Yes, it will ‘go away’.

You’ll be going about your life, lifted by love, laughter, and life itself.
And then… a fragrance on the breeze will catch you.
A phrase from a passing conversation.
A familiar face and figure across a busy street or in the distance of a crowded market.

You’ll wake up one morning (or more), and you’ll have knots and feelings, a lingering emotion without knowing why or how.
Then you’ll hear a familiar tune, and you’ll know full why.

We seem to want to run from grief – but really, what is it?

I think it’s left-over love –
the love we can’t carry on giving to the person we lost.
So if it is left-over love, aren’t we trying to run from having an abundance of love?
And if we are in abundance… can’t we choose to give some to ourselves, and share some with those we still have to love?

“I THINK IT’S LEFT-OVER LOVE – THE LOVE WE CANT’ CARRY ON GIVING…”

Grief, perhaps, is a bit like an energy field.
It’s not something to be healed from –
it’s something we lean into, something we grow through.
It moves around us, through us, reshaping the spaces where love used to live.

I’ve shared these thoughts with many people over the years.
I’ve learnt they are not much use in the immediacy of grief,
but can be comforting as the quietening arrives.

And still—despite holding this outlook for many years –
when I’m in the immediacy of grief,
I can’t find these words and beliefs anywhere – just the ache

Reflection Prompts

If you feel moved, linger here a moment longer…

• • What does your grief still want to give?
• • Where in your life is left-over love waiting to be reimagined?
  
  

You don’t need to answer. Just breathe with them. Let them sit beside you like a friend who doesn’t ask you to speak.

Being Human