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Music Can Heal a Broken Heart

Posted on October 3, 2014 - by Paula Ezop

I love to write. I write about the spiritual in our everyday lives, and I write children’s books. Yes, I know that they are two completely different genres; yet both make me feel complete. I believe that writing about the spiritual is what I was meant to do. It is my reason for being here, and I feel if I have helped just one person with my spiritual writing, then I am fulfilling my mission in life. Writing children’s books takes me to places where all things are possible, where bears can talk, princesses live in lovely castles, and magical […]

As Seasons Change, So Does Grief

Posted on October 2, 2014 - by Marilyn Burns

Grief is a very difficult passage to make. We hope when we are grief stricken that someday we will no longer grieve. The reality in grief is that we really don’t “get over” it; we learn instead to live with it. I lost my son to an opiate addiction in 2007. As you can imagine, it was a very difficult time in my life. As a mother, I did everything I could to keep him alive and happy. However, the day came in my life where parenting had to change. When my son became an adult, I had to let […]

Writer J.W. Basilo on Starting Fresh When the Old Guard is Gone

Posted on October 1, 2014 - by Nancy Gershman, LMSW

How can you use a death and a birth to foster a new culture of decency around the dinner table? This and more when memory artist Nancy Gershman talks with Chicago-based writer, performer, and director J.W Basilo. A National and World Poetry Slam finalist, Basilo is also a PushCart Prize Nominee, and co-host of the Uptown Poetry Slam. His work has appeared on NPR, CBS, WGN and the Chicago Tribune. Catch him on http://BustedMouth.com and http://chicagoslamworks.com. Start a tradition when the Old Guard dies New at the head of the table? Speak your mind Be truthful about the dead without crossing yourself Complete the conversation before anyone’s dying, […]

Quiet and Patience are Stepping Stones to Healing

Posted on October 1, 2014 - by Gloria Lintermans

The earliest feelings of mourning include the initial shock (this can’t be happening), the denial of the reality, and feeling overwhelmed and numb. It is not uncommon to feel some loss of self-esteem and extreme vulnerable. Symptoms usually include a variety of internal complaints, a great deal of crying, insomnia, waking from sleep or not being able to fall asleep, feeling anxious, loss of appetite, possible sweaty hands and heart palpitations. You may also experience irritability, lack of patience, forgetfulness, distractibility and loss of concentration. Feelings of sadness and loneliness accompany feeling bewildered. Disassociation of feeling is common. “I feel […]

Music and Grief

Posted on September 30, 2014 - by Barbara Francis

I was afraid. If death could just sweep in and take Duane and Jody, then none of us is safe. Her death robbed me of an innocence of sorts…the belief that we all will live full lives surrounded by the people we love. But that all changed on January 26, 2003, and, now, I am a realist. I’ve talked with thousands of people who have been in crisis of one form or another. I’ve walked through the grief process with friends who have lost babies, born and unborn, husbands, children and parents. So it’s not like I live in a […]

My Brother, My Best Friend

Posted on September 30, 2014 - by Gloria Horsley

Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals: A Memoir, opens up about her brother and best friend today with Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley. Enjoy the full interview: G: Hello. I’m Dr. Gloria Horsley with my co-host H: Dr. Heidi Horsley. G: Each week we welcome you to Healing the Grieving Heart, a show of hope and conversation with those who have suffered the loss of a loved one and for health care professionals who work in this difficult field. As always the message is others have been there before you and you can make it. You do […]

Happy Birthday to a Husband Gone

Posted on September 30, 2014 - by Marta Dorton

I wonder how your Retire-at-55 plan would be going by now? Would we be Florida-bound? Or woefully far from the dream? That seems to be how life goes. We smugly think our plans are well-made, well-plotted, that hard work and diligence paid. Or we think God had other plans or we missed the mark, failure at our backs. Our dreams become what we have at hand. A widow’s work is never done. I’m sitting outside on my London-green park bench, a Mother’s Day gift from long ago, another life, and I am wishing, crying, that I could personally wish you […]

Preparing for Winter Blues, Anniversary Reactions, and the Unwelcome Return of Grief

Posted on September 29, 2014 - by Harriet Hodgson

Fall has come to Minnesota. The trees are turning gold and orange and red. White-winged Juncos, birds in the sparrow family and harbingers of winter, have returned to the backyard feeders. Nights are colder, and there is frost on the lawn in the mornings. Much as I love fall, I’m always a bit uneasy because I know winter is coming. Living in this changeable climate requires preparation and courage. Winters can be beautiful. We usually have several ice storms that glaze the trees with ice and turn the town into a fairy land. Fierce wind chills, however, and temperatures of […]

Lightness within Darker Days: Creating Routines

Posted on September 28, 2014 - by Susan Reynolds

It’s that time of year again when weather changes, light changes, and layers come out to keep us warm. It’s that time of year again when traditions and aromas of childhood and warmth fill the stores and environments we occupy. Maybe this time, the past traditions and changes don’t fit our outlook of life woven with loss or grief. Our pockets may be laden with heavy loss. Another change? What can we do for ourselves as autumn shifts from the sunny days of summer to the shadowing and hibernating days of fall and winter? In loss, one often has “ […]

Sadness Creeps Back, Sometimes Out of the Blue

Posted on September 27, 2014 - by Paula Ezop

I lost my husband of 35 years nine years ago, and the overwhelming grief that I felt is somewhat of a distant memory. “Yes, somewhat of a distant memory, until something triggers that gut-wrenching heartache,” I mutter out loud as I write. It is strange how it manages to creep back into our lives, out of the blue, shattering our day, and reminding us that we are here without the love of our lives. The triggers can be something as simple as seeing a couple walking together holding hands, or watching a football game and remembering those autumn afternoons when […]