There are two definitions of the word 'comfort'. The first is 'a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint'. The second is 'the easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress'. We focus on the latter in episode 13.

In keeping with this theme, I talk about Words of Comfort by Rebekah Ballagh, who is a qualified counsellor and mindfulness coach.

Rebekah’s first book, Note to Self: The Secrets of Calm, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2020. A companion, the Note to Self Journal, followed in 2021, while Words of Comfort came out in February this year. Impressively, she wrote and illustrated all three books.

As Rebekah writes in the introduction to the book, grief is a very intense experience, which is fraught with conflicting and complicated emotions that can leave you feeling helpless, hopeless, overwhelmed and usure of what to do and where to turn. Words of Comfort, she writes, is here to help. She says the book is your companion in grief, both a beacon of hope and somewhere you can come and sit with grief. And how key that last point is, in my experience. Grief isn’t something that can be buried or ignored.

Chapter one explores the experience of grieving, and the emotions and thoughts they may surface during this process.

Chapter two provide a toolbox of strategies and words of comfort to help you through your grief. The “through you” here is really key. As Rebekah points out, there is no timeline for grief. And despite Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of dying being adopted by many as a model for grief (and expanded into seven stages), it’s definitely not a linear process.

Chapter three takes a look at some of the things we can learn from grief. As someone who was once called Kerry Silver Linings Sunderland, these really resonate with me. One of my favourites is:

Change is inevitable
Grief is inescapable
Loss is unavoidable
Growth is a choice
Insight is an intention

Wisely, Rebekah urges the reader to take what they need and leave what they don’t. And she provides ongoing support to readers through her Instagram community @journey_to_wellness. She has an astonishing 350,000 followers.