What does it mean to grieve with an open heart instead of closing down?

Mirabai's devotion—her examined heart—wasn't about denying pain. It was about refusing to let pain make her bitter or small. When she was separated from what she loved, she didn't harden. She loved more consciously, more fiercely, more aware of how precious connection is. Closing down feels safer. It numbs. But Frankl's insight applies here: when you avoid the pain of loss, you also lose access to the meaning it holds. An open heart in grief means you feel it fully—the love, the anger, the regret, the gratitude—without trying to rush past it or fix it. This doesn't mean wallowing. It means turning toward the hurt instead of away. Some days that's a conversation with someone who knew them. Some days it's writing, or sitting alone, or visiting a place that holds memories. Some days it's letting yourself be loved by people still here, which honors the capacity for love that person awakened in you. The paradox: staying open to grief actually makes you more resilient, not less. Because you're not spending energy closing doors—you're using that energy to integrate what happened into your story. Your heart grows not despite the loss, but through honest witness to it.