GRIEF IS A PORTAL; ENTER THE VOID  Hole in My Heart is a song birthed from grief and loss that I wrote after I lost my dad. Most of us are conditioned to avoid and deny these painful and uncomfortable emotions, feelings, and states at all costs because we’re told by our culture that they’re “bad” and “harmful”…. This couldn’t be further from the truth.  Grief is a natural and necessary part of the whole experience of being a human, and to sweep it under the rug and deny its existence only ends up making it harder and more painful for us in the long run (believe me, I speak from experience ;)  giving yourself the grace and space to feel into and acknowledge everything that’s going on inside you after death -both literal and metaphorical death -is integral to the healing process. Writing this song was a way to sit,  be with, and listen and learn from the grief and heartache on my terms. The gift buried in the grief was that it showed me how to use art to dig into this often overlooked area on the spectrum of life and make sense of that which is innately beyond human logic (as well as appreciate on a deeper level the beauty and fragility of life). Hence, “The Memento Mori Sessions” were birthed… because death always begets new life if you know where to look.)The degree and depth to which we feel grief after a loss is in direct relation to the degree and depth of the love we had and have for the person no longer with us, and that’s a beautiful thing when we can honor it rather than push it away. My hope and desire is that if and when you’re going through something similar, this song can act as a means to help you do the same.