How my Grief Dream Affected me

GRIEF DREAMS: DREAMS THAT OCCUR AFTER THE DEATH OF A HUMAN OR ANIMAL

~ griefdreams.ca

I had first heard about grief dreams when I met Dr. Joshua Black at the International Death Symposium back in Fall 2018. I remember listening to him talk about his research and being in complete awe over the fact that there were people out there in the world that had experienced something so magical. Maybe you’ve been lucky enough to have experienced a visit from your lost loved one or pet in a dream yourself. Having experienced many losses in recent years I wondered why I had never had a grief dream. The more I listened to other’s dreams the more I longed for that experience. At the end of my conversation with Dr. Black, he encouraged me to keep believing and assured me that I would experience a dream whenever it was the right time.

In the months following that conversation, I started experiencing a lot of grief and other emotions that I didn’t know how to comprehend. After having one of the harder days of my grief journey (thus far) I experienced a life-changing dream. I had a visit from my Granda – he came to visit me at the exact moment that I needed comfort the most. I woke up the next morning with the biggest smile on my face as I couldn’t believe what I had just experienced. I had seen my Granda, I had heard his voice. I’ve never felt that kind of happiness from a dream before and it completely changed my perspective, in that moment of my life and has affected the way I deal with situations now.

I encourage you to listen to my episode on the Grief Dreams Podcast where I discuss immigration as a teenager, how I started my memorial jewelry business, and of course my grief dream. I’d love to know if you are able to relate to what my Granda said to me in my dream.

In this episode

0:00 | Intro to the Grief Dreams Podcast
1:25 | Intro to Rebecca MacDonald (memorial jewelry artist)
2:22 | Discussion on how similiar PEI, Canada is similiar to Ireland and immigration as a teenager
6:05 | Discussion on how leaving gatherings are like living wakes and that grief is experienced not only when someone dies
9:14 | Story of coming to terms with a new life after the grief and loss experienced from immigrating
10:38 | Intro to life with animals and how the immigration transition was with animals as well as the boxer dog breed
14:35 | Significances on a piece of memorial jewelry
18:09 | Discussion on what people miss about someone and hair keepsake for pets vs humans
23:57 | Discussion on what it's like creating something so special for others grieving
24:56 | Dr. Black discusses the Continuing Bond Theory
25:58 | Stories of hair clippings and baby teeth our parents keep
28:15 | Discussion on metal stamped keepsakes
29:26 | Intro to Granda and the bond shared with him
31:10 | Story of Granda's death and how this experienced was managed from across the Altantic ocean
37:00 | Discussion on the importance of rituals and Irish wakes
39:36 | Story of Granda visiting in a grief dream
43:34 | Reflecting on the quote Granda said in the dream
47:19 | Story of feeling Granda's presence in real life
48:27 | Discussion on the power of dreams
49:34 | If you could have any dream tonight, what would you want it to be?

People and companies mentioned in this episode

Dr. Joshua Black and Shawn Ram are the hosts of the Grief Dreams Podcast.
Rebecca MacDonald is the guest and owner of Comfort Connects – Keepsakes & Grief Support (formerly known as Craft Love Craft Life).
For more information on grief dreams and the Grief Dreams Podcast, check out GriefDreams.ca, their social media sites, and to donate to the podcast.