With the tragic news of the helicopter crash that took the lives of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant and 7 others, I think its safe to say that most of us are entering the week with heavy hearts. Although many of us did not know Kobe Bryant or the families personally, we often grieve the loss of celebrities because:

• their work helped us to get through difficult times in our lives

• their work inspired our dreams and goals

• they modeled possibility

• their death triggers our grief from a previous loss

• their death activates our fears around mortality

In addition to sharing these quotes, let us all take the time we need to process and mourn in whatever ways we need. Feel the feels and be gentle with yourself and others. Life is fragile and reminders are sharp.

"I know that we live in the lives of those we touch. I have felt in me the living presence of many I have loved and who have loved me. And I know that this is not limited to those we know in the flesh, for many guests of my life shared neither time nor space with me." Elizabeth Watson

“Grief can destroy you --or focus you. You can decide a relationship was all for nothing if it had to end in death, and you alone. OR you can realize that every moment of it had more meaning than you dared to recognize at the time, so much meaning it scared you, so you just lived, just took for granted the love and laughter of each day, and didn't allow yourself to consider the sacredness of it. The answer to the mystery of existence is the love you shared sometimes so imperfectly, and when the loss wakes you to the deeper beauty of it, to the sanctity of it, you can't get off your knees for a long time, you're driven to your knees not by the weight of the loss but by gratitude for what preceded the loss. And the ache is always there, but one day not the emptiness, because to nurture the emptiness, to take solace in it, is to disrespect the gift of life.” 
― Dean Koontz, Odd Hours

“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” - Vicki Harrison

"Real grief is not healed by time…If time does anything, it deepens our grief. 
The longer we live, the more fully we become aware of who she was for us, and the more intimately we experience what her love meant for us. Real, deep love is, as you know, very unobtrusive, seemingly easy and obvious, and so obvious that we take it for granted. 
Therefore, it is often only in retrospect – or better, in memory, that we fully realize its power and depth. Yes, indeed, love often makes itself visible in pain."
– Henri Nouwen

"Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love and wisdom.”
 – Rumi

“Grief never ends… But it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith… It is the price of love.”
— Unknown

 “Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.” 
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Why I started the Monday Motivation series: As a huge fan of quotes, it’s always comforting to feel that others have been where we are and intimately share our experiences through feeling. Words are some of the best ways to express ourselves and sometimes when we can’t find the words ourselves, it is so wonderful to discover that someone else did.