The Weight of First Mornings

There is a particular ache to the mornings that follow a loss. Before the mind fully wakes, there is a merciful second of forgetting — and then the remembering arrives, heavy and complete.

I tell my clients: do not ask yourself to feel better on these mornings. Ask only to be present to yourself with kindness. Make the tea. Feel the warmth of the cup. Let the grief sit beside you at the table rather than demanding it leave the room.

Healing is not the absence of these mornings. It is the slow accumulation of moments in which you meet them with tenderness instead of dread.