Tending Hearts

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Tending Hearts Susanna is a Space Holder, End of Life Doula, Funeral Celebrant and Grief Tender. Always with Love xx
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Beaming love into the net of light this evening for all the aching hearts.....💛✨✨✨Wave of Light ✨✨✨
15/10/2026

Beaming love into the net of light this evening for all the aching hearts.....💛

✨✨✨Wave of Light ✨✨✨

Sometimes, life doesn't make sense. When a bright light goes out suddenly, and unexpectedly, there are no words. Today I...
06/10/2026

Sometimes, life doesn't make sense. When a bright light goes out suddenly, and unexpectedly, there are no words. Today I did something I have never done before....I wrote a funeral service for a beautiful lady on her 59th birthday. It sat so uncomfortably with me as I began writing. I lit a candle as always and put her favourite music on, and ended up having a little dance in celebration of her life and love....to Mr Blue Sky, one of her favourites and also her ring tone....

I spoke with her family who were going out and having lunch to mark it - a perfect sunny day which she would have loved.

It felt like a sacred time to be crafting an honouring of all that she was in the world, how her heart loved people, her unique spirit and love of life.

As I finished, I found myself singing 'Happy Birthday' to her and blowing out the candle. It just felt right.

Later, I dedicated a dip in the lake to her and swam with her in my heart. Life is precious, and we just never know when our story will draw to its close. Hugging my beloveds a little closer tonight....

Happy Birthday Shell....xx

Love shining out to us all..🧡🩷🧡

Today is the anniversary of my Dad’s death. 34 years on, it’s funny the rituals & remembrances I have embodied around th...
23/09/2026

Today is the anniversary of my Dad’s death. 34 years on, it’s funny the rituals & remembrances I have embodied around this date. Like I seem to notice the clock around 3.45pm, recalling when I jumped on a bus in Chester to get home to be with him, and the jumper I was wearing.
I recall the lights coming on in the street at dusk and going to the shop with my brother to get cream cheese as he’d mentioned he fancied it.
And then the feel of the darkness as 11pm approaches, and the slow creeping realisation that he was dying.

I didn’t know at the time that he died on the Autumn Equinox…but now I see how my awareness of light & dark on that day runs through everything, and still does.

I was 21, and my dad was 55. My son and I are now the exact same ages - it’s hard to take that in somehow…This is a picture of my dad aged 21…

When you lose a parent early in your life journey, you don’t quite get how much life with them you are going to miss - the key milestones, growing up, growing older….

I feel I have so much more living to do, and I wish I could have known my dad longer, and as an adult. I wish that for my son and I too.

Lighting candles tonight for my family, but also for all families who have lost loved ones so soon, before their time, leaving that ache of longing and what could have beens….

Grateful as ever for my dad in gifting me a step onto the path of space-holding in tender times, which began all those years ago this evening.

Thanks Dad 🙏🫶💙xx

I like the thought of grief being like a love letter that we keep writing. To me, grief is the depth of love that is qui...
15/09/2026

I like the thought of grief being like a love letter that we keep writing. To me, grief is the depth of love that is quietly always kindled when we think of our beloveds, like a pilot light that never goes out...

Grief is often breathtakingly hard, relentless and all consuming, and it can also be soft, warm and a vital blanket of love that connects us to what is real and true.

I've always felt that grief is a very human thing, a privilege of connection that always remains.

Casting a net of light to whoever may be in the throes of grief right now, and holding a corner of that net steady from a far...

PS my maiden name was Greaves....I think this job was always waiting for me!!😉

It's been a while, and I've been quiet on here. I feel like I'm just reintegrating into 'life as usual' after the fullne...
10/09/2026

It's been a while, and I've been quiet on here. I feel like I'm just reintegrating into 'life as usual' after the fullness of summer and all the lack of structure.

Aside from reconnecting with dear friends and family, a few travels here and there and holding services, I've also experienced loss around me...and have been in service, doula-ing and supporting....

A dear lady I have been end of life doula-ing for a couple of years - a bright, creative spark of light, set off on her next adventure. It was an honour to walk beside her and her family and eventually hold her celebration of life at The Old Chapel.

Closer to home, the following day, our neighbour died, and so we have been offering practical support to the family and held a Memorial Service to acknowledge his gift of gentleness and kindness to the world.

And then, as I headed up to beautiful Nairn to dog sit for my cousin, her gorgeous dog Cosmo collapsed, and it was time for him to head over the rainbow bridge. I was so glad to be there with my cousin to support, and then spent the week with his little brother, helping him process it all, and helping to hold ceremony - returning his ashes to the sea, the forest, the fire and his land.

At times it's felt like a lot to hold, to be up close and personal with loss and grief. But mostly, it's felt like love, truth, connection. Dwelling in this realm doesn't leave space for the superficial, the noise of life drops away. What's left is real, no nonsense, honest...

I was talking to a lovely FD the other day who had a close call with death himself a few months ago, and we said how death has a way of refining our vision. It helps us to realise just how precious this life is and illuminates what matters most.

We celebrate birth and we acknowledge how much someone has mattered after they have gone, but in the meantime, we often forget how precious this life is, and all the people we love in it.

Being a Death Doula and Funeral Celebrant keep me awake to life and love in a way that is so breathtakingly honest and heartswelling, and sometimes, so incredibly difficult...but I am so so grateful for this ever-deepening practice into the preciousness of life.

In Life, In Love..🩷xx

Dolly...such a light bringer....Thank you for the music, rest easy bright heart ✨💛 ✨
25/08/2026

Dolly...such a light bringer....

Thank you for the music, rest easy bright heart ✨💛 ✨

Beautiful 💖xx
04/08/2026

Beautiful 💖xx

I shared something of this sentiment for a wonderful lady last week - she was the 'go to' for so many; her door was alwa...
16/07/2026

I shared something of this sentiment for a wonderful lady last week - she was the 'go to' for so many; her door was always open, and her heart was always ready to receive and make folk feel better. There was so much love in the chapel for her...

Isn't it a beautiful thing how someones legacy lives on through love. So many people after the service spoke of wanting to be more like her - rippling out her ways and letting her be their role model, to be a soft landing place for others.

Loving is the whole point....

Susanna xx

One of the things I love most about my work is listening to people's stories - how someone lived, what they stood for, h...
13/07/2026

One of the things I love most about my work is listening to people's stories - how someone lived, what they stood for, how their journey evolved.

It inspires me to be conscious of the fact that THIS IS IT, every day is a gift, to live better, to take risks, to follow my heart.

And, our stories stay alive - whilst someone is spoken of, they are remembered, and therefore, they live on in some way, in our hearts and minds.

So lets keep sharing the stories of our beloveds, and maybe it will inspire us to make our story a good one...

Love in all directions ✨🩷✨

Susanna xx

Sitting with this today...and feeling into how a dear friend who after losing her father, has discovered a deeper connec...
10/07/2026

Sitting with this today...and feeling into how a dear friend who after losing her father, has discovered a deeper connection to life and her calling. All transitions offer us a glimpse into liminal space and a chance to court the mystery, and this can really open us to the gift of our life and who we are here to be.

Beautiful xx

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Stone
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