Dear Family, Friends and loved ones,
It has been a while since I have posted any updates and I just wanted to thank all that have given so generously and let you know how we all are doing.
Life has changed that is for sure. There is an emptiness in our home and our hearts that we now realize will never be filled. Grief is a hard emotion to overcome and I personally have been trying to find ways to overcome the grief and enter back into gratitude. The sadness will be everlasting, this I know. But Grief...well that is a different animal, it takes your insides and mindset and throws it against the wall. It renders you immobile both emotionally and physically. I have likened this to a shell. Imagine the ying and yang of joy and sadness...they are needed in life and most of us manage these opposing emotions in our everyday. But Grief, well that is the shell that surrounds the ying and yang, rendering the feelings of joy and sadness to be incased in an impenetrable shell. Some would say it is a numbness or emptiness...like nothing matters.
What I am here to tell you is that it does matter. Grace Matters! What she stood for matters and this is everlasting. We all need to focus more on G.E.M - Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness.
Gratitude:
We are grateful for the 20 amazing years that we got to spend with the incredible human that was/is Grace Ann King. We are Grateful for all the joy she brought into our family and the wider communities that she touched.
Empathy:
We are empathetic to her struggles and how the darkness of the world took hold of her and led her to the dark place that resulted in the loss.
Mindfullness:
We are mindful that mental health is an epidemic of our time and only at an individual level can this be overcome.
With these three guiding principles of G.E.M. We will make a difference in this world and hopefully impact others positively to help save lives through the selfless act of kindness, care and action.
We have been recovering over the last few months and the support we have received from Family, Friends and those that care has been overwhelming...but incredibly beautiful. It shows that there is more kindness and care in this world than you could ever imagine.
After Grace transcended we used her energy and decided to dedicate areas of our garden to her favorite flower...The Sunflower. Taking the seeds that were generously given to us at her service we have grown 3 full gardens of beautiful, strong and amazing plants. I could go on for hours on how amazing and transformative this process has been. From taking them from seeds to seedlings and nurturing them into full bloom and now to harvesting their seeds of future life and love. It has been a healing and meditative process, offering time for reflection, contemplation, gratitude, mindfulness and often full blown discussions with the essence of Grace (Thank you).
To all that have donated we wish to give you a gift. A gift of hope, love and life. As we are now harvesting the seeds from all of the flowers we wish to send some, to all those that have donated and care to make a difference. This will give you a chance of raising your own Graceful flowers and repeating this cycle year after year...it is not hard, it just takes the mindfulness to do it and some nurture to maintain...perhaps the perfect start on the mindfulness journey for many?
Please reach out and provide your details to us so we can send you some seeds. Treat these like the essence of Grace and enjoy the process of care that it will take to grow them into stunning and graceful flowers...it is so rewarding and just what Grace herself would absolutly love.
I have included some images below and what I have written here, is just a snippet of the observations, miracles and joy that i witnessed in the process of transferring grief into purpose, shattering the shell and finding that there is so much Joy to be had if you care to look past the personal sadness.
We will always have sadness, but we also now see the joy and love that Grace brought to the world with a clarity that was not possible before. We will continue to focus on ways to share this with others. Work on the mindfulness center is ongoing and we have started the journey to assist others find their way out of darkness and into the light...more will follow on this in the next blog.
For now: Thank You. Thank you all for caring, thank you all for supporting and most importantly thank you all for loving Grace and showing us the impact that our little shy girl had on so many...Just Thank You!
Enjoy the images of the sunflowers (I have hundreds now of every stage). Just a few below to get you started and focused on the wonderful world that you live in where even in our darkest moments and simple sunflower can evoke the joys of living and being present in life.
To let us know the address to send the seeds to please send to kings@withgrace.org.nz .
All our Love,
The King Family.
