Love and Loss at Christmas

“The brighter the light, the darker the shadow” - Carl Jung

t/w: pet loss

My love,

We’ve had a sad week here. We lost my boy friend’s gorgeous dog, Obi, on Tuesday. During the day he was off his food a bit but happy, running on the beach, and that evening we discovered he was very ill.

The tears! When you fall in love with someone, you fall in love with everything they come with. Obi was always there: on our first ‘friend’ dates and as we got to know each other. I’m heartbroken.

In the early friend dating stages (we’re in Kith n Kin and he’s looking for Dan who’s nipped to the loo!)

He was the best boy:

• a gentle giant who thought he was a lap dog;

• no-one has ever been as pleased to see me as him - he would go crazy when I came in the house and was known to run the whole stretch of the beach if he knew I was there; and,

• I swear he could talk (he’d say I love you, all the time 🥰).

He has left a very big hole in our lives so I’ve been using this love with nowhere to go to visualise him around me and Dan. Our very own spirit animal 🫶

I know you will have lost people and animals you love too, and there’s something about Christmas that can stir this grief pot, bringing any loss closer to the surface.

“The brighter the light, the darker the shadow” - Carl Jung

I think it might be down to the enforced joy we’re meant to be feeling.

I’m all for love and light and happiness, but not at the expense of my soul and what my subconscious needs to me to acknowledge.

You can’t just put glitter on everything, much as we might try, so I will not be forcing it this Christmas.

If and when I get waves of sadness, I’m not going to hide it from my kids or the people around me or even myself.

Rather than numb with alcohol or sugar or powering on through in auto-pilot not feeling anything (happy or sad) - as I would have done in the past - I’m going to go into those shadows, fairy lights in hand and see what’s there.

And then I’m going cuddle the hell out of whatever it is.

And then I’m going to cuddle the hell out of the people around me. So watch out if you’re local!

I think a quiet (or loud) acknowledgement of the pain and sadness allows you to enjoy Christmas so much more.

Winter-survival Kit starts on Monday

If you are in Christmas-mode, powering on through on auto-pilot to the big day, scared to slowdown as you might not start up again, then I extend this invitation to you…

On Monday evening, 16th December, at 7:30pm, I’m running a live chat and Meditation for my Love Notes upgraded subscribers.

(You can read more about subscriptions here)

It will be a chance to gently slow down, take a breather and connect back into yourself and your needs.

In preparation for the winter solstice ceremony, I’ll be inviting you to think about your intentions for the next 3 months:

• how you would like to feel; and,

• what you would like to do over the winter season.

You should leave the call feeling rested, calmer and with a solid plan to anchor yourself over winter. Especially into the New Year when things can get a little out of hand 🫶

How are you feeling about Christmas and the winter season? I’d love to know what’s coming up for you ❤️

with love,

Hannah XOX

P.S. I have a whole ‘winter-survival kit’ for you

The Meditation on 16th Dec is part of a wider set of winter events, including Winter Solstice Ceremony on 20th Dec, Yoga and Vision Boarding evening retreat on 5th Jan and Venus Yoga starting 10th Jan all to support your intentions for winter and the New Year.

Early bird tickets (10% off) are on sale until 15th December with the code WINTER10 and all events are also available online with replays so you can watch again if you can’t come live. The magic works whenever you do it ✨