Longing as Spiritual Practice

Mirabai's entire spiritual life was structured around longing—for Krishna, for union, for truth. That longing was not weakness but the very engine of her devotion and growth. For grieving children, the impulse to "get over it" can obscure something deeper: longing itself can become a spiritual practice. Rather than trying to make the ache disappear, a child might cultivate it as a form of prayer, remembrance, or connection. This might look like a daily moment of sitting with the feelings, journaling letters to the person lost, or creating rituals that honor the missing. The longing becomes purposeful—a way of staying in relationship, of keeping the person alive in consciousness, of deepening the child's own capacity for love and depth. This practice teaches young people that suffering can be meaningful, that missing someone is a testament to having loved, and that the ache itself can become a pathway to wisdom and spiritual maturation.