Compassion, Winter 2020

Winter 2020 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 14 Helping Us Get Through Christmas As we approach Christmas it puts me in mind of a poem written in 1833 by Alfred lord Tennyson. ‘The Yule-log sparkled keen with frost No wing of wind the region swept But over all things brooding slept The quiet sense of something lost.’ Of course our sense of loss is often far from quiet and is with us every day. However some days are definitely harder than others and Christmas is right up there at the top end of the list, not helped by our tendency in this country to stretch it out to cover about a third of the year! We have some books in the library on the subject of coping with special occasions, including Christmas, but, rather than talking about one or two of them, I’ve looked at them all and tried to extract their best advice. This advice comes under four general headings starting with: 1. Look after yourself • This covers pretty sensible things like eating and drinking sensibly and getting enough sleep. Grief is so exhausting, and our sleep pattern is in tatters, so go with what your body tells you to do. There’s nothing wrong with a nap in the afternoon or getting up at 3am for a hot chocolate and a re-run of Del boy falling through the bar flap. • Also it’s good to get out in the fresh air if possible for a walk, even just for five minutes or so. This is good advice for any time but it can easily be overlooked at Christmas.