Author: Julie Maltby

The tagline for The Loss Art is “Honour your grief. Reimagine your future.” I wrote these words to capture the purpose of my business. I believe you can – and deserve to – live with hope and joy while grieving.

When you’re in the throes of grief, it’s hard to imagine getting to the other side. Your grief will influence who you are and who you’re becoming. However, grief doesn’t have to define you.

As time passes, you’ll have fewer and fewer waves of grief. Instead, you’re likely to feel moments of sadness while happy or happiness while sad because grief doesn’t ever go away entirely.

The good news is that you can choose how you grieve and set your own pace for living with your loss. A creative approach to grieving can help you move away from passive suffering towards actively making meaning of death and non-death losses. You can do this as an innately creative being.

You deserve to live with hope and joy while grieving

To help you focus some attention on the life you want to live while coping with loss, I’ve designed a workshop called Reimagine your future.

Like all gatherings and projects with The Loss Art, you don’t need artistic skills. It’s about the process, not the product – you may create a masterpiece worthy of framing or not and either is as it should be.

This is an opportunity to acknowledge the presence of grief in your life and to imagine the future you want. If you want to suffer less and live with more hope and joy, I’d love to have you join my Reimagine your future workshop in April. It’s being offered in person in Ingersoll and Port Dover. Learn more and sign up on the Services page of this website.

What do you say?

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this question: what would you tell a friend who doesn’t believe they deserve joy while grieving?

Please feel free to share your answer below and check back to see what you can learn from others.

Yesterday, I learned that a woman who shared a creative way to help me grieve less and reach for more died a few days ago. The last time we saw each other was at a large International Women’s Day event in March 2020 – just days before the world shut down.

I didn’t know Martha well but she left a lasting impression and helped to change my perspective about life and work. Many years ago, I applied for a job at the organization she led with commitment, determination, enthusiasm and compassion. I knew I’d learn all the right things from her. I didn’t get the job and while I was grieving the lost opportunity, Martha made sure I didn’t let my grief hold me back.

We grieve lost opportunities like we grieve any other loss

Martha called to tell me personally that she’d gone with another candidate. She expressed empathy when she heard the disappointment in my voice. She highlighted my strengths and encouraged me to apply to other organizations where she vouched for their leadership. And then she did something I’ll never forget.

Grieve less and reach for more

Martha recommended I establish my own Board of Directors – a group of caring, connected people who would support my success. She even offered to be the Chair of my Board! What a caring and creative way to inspire a fellow woman to keep reaching for her dreams and goals while grieving a lost opportunity.

While I didn’t follow through on Martha’s suggestion in a formal way, I have surrounded myself with smart, talented women who prop me up, take joy in my successes, tell it to me straight when I need an attitude adjustment and so much more. I make it a priority to do the same for them.

As I take a giant leap of faith in my first entrepreneurial venture, The Loss Art, I take inspiration from Martha’s faith in me. I’m working hard to become successful – by my definition – and I’m also allowing space for the universe to work through me.

I recognize it also takes a leap of faith to enter into a relationship with a coach. Let’s start by getting to know each other. Please share a comment below about how you have inspired by or inspired other women to keep reaching for dreams and goals, even in the face of grief. And learn more about me by watching videos I recorded just for you.

On this International Women’s Day, I celebrate women who live or lived a life worth remembering. In other words, I celebrate every woman!

Grief by Design blog post #1

You’ve probably heard about the five stages of grief.

Maybe you’ve used the term “working through grief.”

Perhaps you’re undertaking tasks and steps experts say are necessary to move through grief.

While these are popular ideas, you won’t read about stages or tasks here or anywhere on The Loss Art website. Why? Because the concept of stages of grief is a myth. And because I believe creating is a more joyful approach than working, whether you’re coping with loss or doing pretty much anything in life.

Welcome to my first post in a new blog series called Grief by design. As we go forward together, I invite you to read the blogs that speak to you – and I’d love for us to speak to each other. You can connect with me and each other by commenting below or on The Loss Art Facebook page. To reach me directly, send a message to [email protected].

The Loss Art offers a creative approach to grief and bereavement support

I believe you can design your grief experience as part of a social and meaning-making process. Don’t worry – you don’t need artistic skills! As a certified Creative Grief Support Practitioner, I’ll coach and support you as you tap into your innate creativity to express a personal response to your loss and grief – in your own way.

Above all, you’re the expert on your grief experience. I’m here to help coach you on your journey of:

• Coping with loss
• Living with grief
• Healing after loss
• Feeling stuck anywhere in the grieving process

Check out the Services page to read about upcoming grief workshops and other strategies for coping with grief. All are designed to help increase hope and joy and to reduce suffering in your grief recovery.

Going forward, my blog posts will focus on singular topics or messages. They’ll reveal more about my approach to grief support and be written to inspire you to honour your grief and reimagine your future. By embracing creativity, you learn to find more ease in your everyday living and to engage in life again after loss.