Can’t Focus Because of Grief? Try This.
This is a short practice for the moments when grief shows up in the middle of your day and takes your attention away from what you’re doing. You might be working, moving through a task, trying to stay focused, and then something shifts. Your concentration drops, you start making small mistakes, and it becomes harder to stay with what’s in front of you.
In this video, I’m in one of my work spaces with a piece of wooden sugar cane in my hands. It’s something I keep close because I reach for it often. It makes a soft sound when I move it, and that sound helps me settle. The texture, the weight, and the familiarity of it bring me back into the moment. It also holds memory for me. It connects me to Jamaica, to childhood, to history, and to a sense of continuity that feels steady.
The practice is simple. I pick it up, I hold it, and I give myself a few minutes to breathe. I stay with the object and let my attention rest there for a moment. After a few minutes, I see if I'm ready to return to what I was doing with a little more steadiness.
If you want to try this, choose something that has meaning for you and keep it within reach. It could be a pen, a photo, a plant, anything that feels grounding in your hands and familiar enough that you don’t have to think about it.
When grief interrupts your day, you can pause, pick up that object, and spend a few minutes breathing with it. Return to your task when you feel ready enough.
If this kind of interruption happens often, there’s an episode of What I Let Die (WILD Podcast) called “Daily Grieftending: Small Rituals That Change Everything” where I talk more about practices like this and how they can support you in everyday moments.
Come back to this as many times as you need it.
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