OuiShare Fest Paris 2016

By Loss we mean the death of a loved one: someone or something important to you.In addition to being a person who passed away, a “loved one” might have been an animal companion, a thing (like a relationship, a job, or your health), or even something that only ever existed as a dream (for example, discovering that you’re infertile when you’ve always imagined you’d birth children naturally is an example of this kind of loss.)

Grieving a major loss, and coping with normal life after a great loss, often has an isolating effect. Sometimes we have the sense that no one can share what we are feeling. Sometimes we fear that to reveal our feelings is to spread negativity and "bring other people down." Sometimes we feel that the acceptable time for grieving has passed; that experiencing grief months or years after the loss is socially unacceptable. Sometimes we feel shame about what our particular style of grief looks like. There are many reasons for isolation.

Yet increasingly we are seeing interest around reclaiming longstanding rituals or creating new community structures to help us cope with loss.

In this conversation we'll explore our experiences of isolation vs. experiences of community within the grieving process. We hope that people will leave this circle empowered to acknowledge death and loss explicitly, in many arenas of "regular life" where it is currently taboo. 

Ultimately we hope that more open attitudes to grieving, loss and death in our society can lead to everyone leading a more peaceful, grounded life.