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THE WAY YOU KNOW
Finding the Way through Grief
In Memory of Laura Newton
Copyright
by Kathleen Hawkins
www.WinningSpirit.com
Anyone who knows me well knows I have a bad sense of direction, and
Laura, more than anyone, would help me get to where I was going.
Sometimes after our monthly girlfriends’ get-togethers she’d sit with me
and patiently talk me through the directions for getting home. And once,
on the way to a meeting at her house, I called her in tears and told her
that I couldn’t find the place, and she said, “Stay where you are, I’ll
come and get you.” And sometimes after a meeting, when I didn’t know how
to get back to the main road, she’d say, “You can follow me.”
Sometimes I lied to her and told her that I knew the way—I was so
embarrassed, I mean, two master’s degrees and I can’t even find my way
out of a walk-in closet. So I’d tell her that I knew the way and was
always relieved when she didn’t believe me and gave me directions
anyway, just in case.
The last time she tried to help me find my way home, I assured her that
I knew the way; I was telling her the truth this time and she knew it,
and she said, “But there’s a quicker way. Let me tell you a short cut.”
And she tried to explain it to me, but my eyes glazed over and she
finally said, “That’s okay, just go the way you know.”
Laura, please give me directions one more time. Tell me how to find my
way out of the grief I’m feeling over losing you.
I lie in the dark and count the people I’ve lost: my father, dead at age
49, of a heart attack; friends, Maggie, alcoholism, and John, lung
cancer; niece and nephew, born too soon, too fragile; my friend Juanita;
a dear grandfather, a favorite aunt and uncle.
Each time I wrote my way through the grief and back to some semblance of
perspective and peace. Each time I lit a candle and said their names and
wept for the lives lost—or maybe, the lives gone on ahead that I might
follow some day—and each time I reaffirmed the precious gift of my own
life, and cherished my remaining family and friends even more. And today
I cry, “Laura, I can’t find my way out of the pain of losing you!” And
she answers, “That’s okay, just go the way you know.”
You may copy, reprint, or forward this
article to friends,
colleagues or customers, as long as you include the following credit:
Copyright by Kathleen Hawkins, author of Spirit Incorporated: How to
Follow Your Spiritual Path from 9 to 5.
www.WinningSpirit.com
Let
Kathleen
Hawkins help you increase your personal and
professional effectiveness and look forward to coming to work every day
SEMINARS and PRESENTATIONS: Learn from the best.
Be informed, inspired, and entertained.
- Spirit Incorporated: How to Follow Your Spiritual Path From 9 to
5
- Speed Reading Skills: Speed Read to Save Time, Improve Your Memory,
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MEET
KATHLEEN HAWKINS
 Kathleen is
a speed reading expert, vice president of the National Management Institute, and the author of
four books, Time Management Made Easy, Test Your Entrepreneurial
IQ, Reverse Speech: Hidden Messages in Human Communication,
and Spirit Incorporated: How to Follow Your Spiritual Path From 9 to
5. She wrote a column for five years for Success magazine and
wrote and produced the best-selling audio-cassette programs, Speed
Read to Win and How to Organize Yourself to Win. Her articles
and ideas on how to increase personal and professional effectiveness have
appeared in more than 200 national publications. In addition to being
a best-selling author, Kathleen is a professional speaker and a business
consultant. Thousands of people from all levels of business, science,
education, and industry have taken her courses.
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