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Wishing the Holidays Would Go On By

Posted on December 5, 2014 - by Neal Raisman

At least I don’t have to deal with Christmas. It must be terrible for those who used to rejoice in the holiday. One less present under the tree. One less diner at dinner. One less reason to go on. And everyone else happy and smiling. It’s Christmas. The happiest time of the year. Rejoice in the season. Or else.” Joy for them maybe. But not for us. Just a mean reminder of how much has been lost. How hollow the day is. And they want you to be happy. To join in and decorate the tree. Hang holly when you’d […]

What Bereaved Families Can Expect – Interview with Harriet Sarnoff Schiff

Posted on December 2, 2014 - by Gloria Horsley

HEALING THE GRIEVING HEART What Bereaved Families Can Expect As Time Goes On Host: Dr. Gloria Horsley With guest: Harriet Sarnoff Schiff June 16, 2005 Today I am much honored to have as my special guest international grief expert and author Harriet Sarnoff Schiff. Harriet Sarnoff Schiff is the author of two classic works on grieving, The Bereaved Parent and Living with Mourning. Her third book, How Did I Become my Parent’s Parent addresses the challenges of caring for elderly parents. Harriet is a licensed clinical social worker and former reporter for the Detroit News. She’s lectured throughout the United […]

Healing Through the Holidays

Posted on November 29, 2014 - by Sherry Cassedy

The holidays approach. “Holidays” meaning Thanksgiving, then Advent, Hannakah, Solstice, but ultimately Christmas, and then New Year’s. ‘Tis the season…to be jolly. Increasingly it is a commercialized, consumer event of trees and trimmings, treats and gifts—purchasing an experience of gaity, cheer, warmth, togetherness, presence. When absence is a constant companion, when loss is fresh and raw, when grief is weighty, how do we enter and navigate this season… to be jolly? Gratitude is almost always the answer to our most heartfelt urgent questions about grief. Gratitude offers a frame for finding a measure of solace within the season. Memories of […]

Random Acts of Kindness

Posted on November 28, 2014 - by Sandy Fox

As a way for families to honor their child and to help themselves heal, MISS Foundation began “The Kindness Project” in 1997. By 2007, more than 750,000 Kindness Project cards have been used around the globe to perform random acts of kindness in memory of a child, parent, friend, or spouse who died before their time. The idea is to perform random acts of kindness in the community, usually anonymous. A little card is left behind so that the person who benefits from the kindness knows that someone’s life and death continues to matter. Anyone can participate by ordering Kindness […]

Improv artist Marc Herson on Vision Quests for Mourners

Posted on November 28, 2014 - by Nancy Gershman, LMSW

Fasting on water, chanting his heart out and beating a drum for 4 solitary days in a pine valley opened a door to the afterlife for Marc Hershon. This and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with Hershon about his vision quest – a Renaissance man who performs and teaches improv; hosts and produces Succotash, the Comedy Podcast; draws an award-winning, weekly cartoon for California’s Half Moon Bay Review and names ubiquitous products (like Swiffer, Dasani and BlackBerry) as Creative Director for Lexicon Branding. The show must go on (then off) Conversations with fathers, now dead, are less awkward No one calls you by your given name in the afterlife Beating a drum goes well with confessing as loud as you can Make friends […]

The Thankful Day: Remembering My Loved Ones

Posted on November 27, 2014 - by Harriet Hodgson

I live in Minnesota, the land of more than 10,000 lakes, spectacular fall colors, and breathtaking spring times. As soon as the fall leaves start to turn yellow and orange and red, I start to prepare myself for Thanksgiving. It is a difficult holiday for me, and just thinking about Thanksgiving can make my body tense. This is a holiday filled with happy and sad memories. My deceased parents were married on Thanksgiving, so I think of them. Our elder daughter was born on Thanksgiving. The year she was born Thanksgiving was on the 23rd of the month. Ironically, she […]

One Solstice: A Family Ritual of Love, Remembrance, and Hope

Posted on November 27, 2014 - by Elaine Mansfield

My son Anthony arrived from California around three a.m. After a few hours’ sleep, he woke up groggy-eyed, made a pot of coffee, and took a run. He didn’t have much to say, so I let my words rest. My sons and I have been through big changes since their dad, my husband Vic, died eighteen months ago. Holidays have been difficult, but our first Christmas felt disastrous. This year, I hoped to make more space for grief, openly acknowledge what we’d lost, and soothe our sorrow. After lunch, Anthony told me about his California life, and I talked about […]

A Bereavement Group – For Mothers Only

Posted on November 26, 2014 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

Six years ago this January, I shared a cup of tea with a grieving friend following the sudden loss of her son. I had an understanding of how she felt because I had lost a daughter a few years previously. While we sipped our tea I asked my friend what she thought about me starting a no-cost bereavement group for mothers who have lost children. As a practicing certified group psychotherapist for 34 years, I felt there was a need for this kind of specialty group and I was called to do it. My friend said to count her in […]

Mourning Mother

Posted on November 25, 2014 - by Cheryl Espinosa-Jones

Exactly a month after my mother’s death, I’ve boarded a plane for Toronto, Canada to train with the cancer center there in their protocol, CALM (Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully). It’s hard to leave home right now. I stick close to my wife and become easily overcome by the many details of living. On the other hand, I’m going somewhere that my grief will be, I assume, accepted, and where I will have space to appreciate that my mother died prepared, facing death squarely with her eyes open, just as this program teaches us to facilitate. What a gift she […]

What No One Ever Told Me About Grief

Posted on November 24, 2014 - by Susan Casey

Last Valentine’s—that rose-scented, chocolate-infused day, God reached a hand down, scooped my brother’s soul in his Godly palm without asking if we were ready, if Rocky was ready, to transition from this world into the next. He was plucked from our lives without any warning at all, leaving a jagged hole in our wholeness, sending tremors through our family while hairline cracks mushroomed through our “ROCK” solid foundation. The past nine months have crawled by in a blurry, non-linear haze. I’d attach wheels to the next three, hitch them together like freight train cars, and shove them over a cliff […]