Often I stand on the edge of other’s grief, I watch as they navigate a very personal journey. Sometimes I have words of comfort but more often I have nothing. At first when this happened it frightened me, being a professional in the world of transition, ebbing life and impending death, I should know exactly how to manage this! But I have learnt that sometimes silence and presence is as soothing as acknowledging pain through words. Words are wind, without an emotional base to be born from they can be mere empty platitudes. Silence is never empty, it is the space of the sacred, it holds the moment of pain and possibility of comfort.  I stood in silence yesterday as I watched grown sons of my dying patient allow grief to flow freely. There were no words, there was only silence, bearing witness the sacred, poignant, breathtaking moment.

Quietly I stood doing a job that I never do alone for I know the Angels and the Spirits of loved ones are all around, helping us all navigate the silence.