Getting—and staying—in touch with both grief and gratitude can help us be more present, more centered, more authentic, and more ready for whatever comes our way.

Francis Weller, a psychotherapist and author who writes and teaches about grief, says the work of a mature person is to hold grief in one hand and gratitude in the other, and be stretched large by them.

To do this we need to be able to touch and hold both experiences. Focusing on just one is incomplete; too much grief by itself and we slide into despair and overwhelm. Too much gratitude on its own and we bypass our more challenging emotions. The balance will differ for all of us, but we need contact with both.

I created this guide as a simple way to connect to the sources of our daily challenges and delights both. Try it out for a few days and let me know what you think.