Karla Helbert | My Son, Theo, Is Always With Me
Grieving Voices
English - November 28, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 30 MBMental Health Health & Fitness Education Self-Improvement grief grief podcast grief support grief education grief stories loss heartbroken divorce death child loss Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Society will often say to bereaved parents (or guardians), "I cannot imagine your loss..." when expressing their sympathy. However, these words can feel like a thousand paper cuts to the bereaved because, if they're anything like my guest, Karla, they want you to imagine, even briefly. As Karla shares in this week's episode, we are all capable of using our imagination; however, when it comes to child loss, no one wants to imagine it. Karla herself never imagined she would experience such a loss in her life. And today, her beloved Theo would be 18 and off to college.
Theo means "God," and Karla never imagined how much her spiritual life would suffer when Theo was diagnosed at three months old with a brain tumor and died six months later. She needed God and her spiritual practice more than ever during that time, and yet all of the tools and teachings in her toolbox through her therapy practice, yoga, aromatherapy, and more were of no interest to her; she wanted nothing to do with any of it. That is until she was ready to face the one unimaginable loss she could not change.
Through this episode and Karla's story, you'll learn two important lessons her grief taught her, as well as her insights around balancing the fear of the world and something bad happening with living, and in particular, the challenges parents with other living children face after already burying one child.
We also talk about how her practice evolved with her grief and how it's also enabled her to sit with other grievers, including other bereaved parents and guardians, in their pain.
When unimaginable loss happens, every aspect of our lives takes a hit. But when our spiritual life is bruised, finding meaning, which Karla explains is very personal, can be the fuel needed to get up in the morning and keep moving.
Karla lives her life with one thought: to live a life that would make Theo proud.
May we all strive to live our lives to honor our departed loved ones - in even the smallest of ways. 💛
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This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.
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