Grief & Gratitude- In Uncertain Times Fall/Winter 2025

We only GRIEVE what we love.

We are often given the message that we should only get to grieve for a close person that has died and only for a specific time. We don’t really know how to do that by ourselves, alone, without being overwhelmed.

Kristin believes we were meant to deal with our grief, our losses of ALL kinds, in community with warmth and resonance. She believes it's easiest to do that when we pulse between our joys (what we actually FEEL grateful for, not what we OUGHT to be grateful for) and our heartbreaks (what we've loved and lost). Both joys and heartbreaks bring us home to ourselves making us more ready for what's ahead. If this approach appeals, Kristin invites you to consider joining us for -a seven week dive into grief and gratitude to develop practices and skills for embracing what matters to us.

This series runs from 11/23/25 to 1/4/26:

Seven weekly group sessions Sundays from 4:30pm-6:00pm Pacific Time

Optional application/practice sessions Thursdays (skipping 11/27) from 4:30pm-6pm Pacific Time.

Kristin weaves together elements of NVC, relational neurobiology, resonant language, with frameworks from Joanna Macy's Work That Reconnects, and liberation/anti-oppression work. Each participant has full choice about what and how to work with their life's material, and affinity groupings can be arranged in breakouts and dyad pairings.

Is there something else you need to know to know if this is a fit for you? Email Kristin at Kristin@nvcsantacruz.org

Do any of these inquiries resonate with you? Would you like to build skills and capacity to move towards grief and gratitude?

• How do I hold the personal losses in my life, losses of people from life and relationships, loss of beloved critters, loss of place, loss of abilities/capacities, loss of work/job/meaning?
• How do I recover from the losses, stresses and fears of recent times (political threats, racial/social injustices, environmental losses)?
• How do I find ways to swim in gratitude even when my world/community/family is hurting?
• How do I truly hold my loneliness and fears in these times... and at the same time let myself fall fully in love with your version of "little green apple tree and the birdies in the yard"?
• How do I hold the way my heart soars when I hear someone speak values crucial to me, and find the strength to step up my game for the work that needs to be done in my world?

If these questions feel juicy to you, and if you want to find your own versions, come join Kristin and what promises to be warm community for building our resources for the uncertainties in life.