Mirabai held impossible tensions—love and pain, longing and joy; children need permission to feel contradictory emotions simultaneously in grief.
Mirabai's examined heart held paradoxes: she loved Krishna desperately yet knew he would never love her back in conventional ways. She was joyful yet grieving, devoted yet questioning, free yet bound by devotion. This paradoxical consciousness is essential for grieving children who are told they should feel only sadness, or who feel confused when joy breaks through their pain. Grief is not linear or pure. A child can laugh at a memory and then cry. Can feel relieved that someone's suffering ended while devastated by their absence. Can celebrate a birthday party while missing the person who always attended. Mirabai's examined heart invites us to hold these mysteries without trying to resolve them. The examined heart doesn't demand certainty or coherence; it simply looks closely at what is actually present. For children, this means: your feelings don't have to make sense. You can miss someone and be angry with them. You can feel peaceful and heartbroken simultaneously. The heart's contradictions are not failures of understanding but evidence of love's complexity.
Peri can explain this concept, give practical examples, help you decide whether it applies to your situation, or recommend a journey if appropriate.
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