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How Working Outside My Hope Helped Me Survive

Posted on September 7, 2012 - by Madeline Sharples

When my older son Paul died by suicide in 1999 after a seven-year battle with bipolar disorder, I had to find ways to keep myself busy and productive or else I would wallow away in my grief. At the time of his death I wrote grant proposals for a homeless shelter, but with too many reminders working from my home office, I decided I needed a job away from home. After two false starts at part-time jobs – writing grant proposals for our local free clinic and managing capital campaigns as a fundraising consultant – I decided to try to […]

Your Spiritual Path to Grief Healing

Posted on September 7, 2012 - by Harriet Hodgson

Though grief has common symptoms, each person’s grief is unique. Your grief isn’t quite the same as mine, and each of us must find our way. In 2007, after losing my daughter, father-in-law, brother, and former son-in-law, I was overcome with grief, so overcome I could hardly function. But my husband and I were our twin grandchildren’s guardians and we didn’t have time to waste. Two vulnerable teenagers were depending on us. At the time, I didn’t have a grief recovery plan, yet my subconscious was working on it. Each day, I set aside some time for reflection. And I […]

Taking Survival Lessons from Wolves — and Jodi Picoult

Posted on September 4, 2012 - by Sandra Pesmen

I’m on my way to the library to return yet another remarkable novel by Jodi Picoult. It’s called “Lone Wolf” and I want to share some words her main character speaks about wolves who die, but that apply to all of us who have had “family upheavals” and soldier on. “There is no grief among wolves. Nature has a wonderful way of making you face reality. You can sit and weep if you want, but you are likely to be killed while you’re lost in your mourning because your let your guard down. “I have seen wolves step over a […]

Mom Shares Child-Loss Story, Feels ‘Alive’

Posted on September 4, 2012 - by Teresa Luttrell

I recently followed a writing prompt that suggested: Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). A tough one, in a year where I mostly felt dead. But let’s see… The moment that comes up most vividly is a recent event, one that happened during the very first date with the guy I’m seeing. I’d squeezed between tables to sit on the bench seat–something I’m now certain must have driven him a bit nuts since he prefers to sit in view of the door. As my initial […]

Composing Grief: Songwriting as Salve after Loss

Posted on September 4, 2012 - by Tony Falzano

There are many articles written by people who found an activity that helped them journey through grief and loss. They range from journaling feelings on paper to taking up something more extravagant, such as hang-gliding. These new-found interests have often been the oxygen individuals need to survive. I recently came across an article written by a woman who used songwriting as a way of working through grief. She claimed not to be a songwriter or a musician. In fact, she didn’t know where to begin the process. She just had a desire to express herself and heal her broken heart. […]

Healing Journey: Things Are Looking Up (And So Am I)

Posted on September 3, 2012 - by Michael Nunley

Some of you are far enough along the grief journey to believe that there is life with grief. Please notice I did not say “life AFTER grief.” There is no “after”; there is only understanding and healing. You don’t stop missing a loved one who is no longer with you. You don’t wake up one day with selective amnesia and live as if someone never existed. It doesn’t work that way. What happens is you move from living one breath at a time to one hour at a time to one day at a time. You learn there is strength […]

Writing Heartfelt Words Can Lead You Out of the Darkness

Posted on September 3, 2012 - by Harriet Hodgson

Recently Deb Kosmer, a bereaved parent, author, poet, health care professional, and blogger, posted on Facebook about accumulating words. I don’t know the source of her post, but it said letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make pages, pages make chapters, and chapters make books. I added a line to Deb’s post, “And some words make a new life.” Why did I add this line? It comes from my experience. In 2007, I lost four family members, my daughter, father-in-law, brother, and former son-in-law. Losing their father made my twin grandchildren orphans and my husband and me GRGs, grandparents […]

After Child-Loss, Life on Infinity Boulevard

Posted on September 1, 2012 - by David Roberts

The Number 8 In Ted Andrews book, Animal Speak, there is a page devoted specifically to the meanings of numbers as they relate to our understanding of nature. The number 8 signifies, among other things, the symbol for infinity or eternal life. It is ironic that eternal life arises from death, an event so emotionally painful to those who bear witness to it. Death is an event that all of us would wish to avoid or talk about. However, death is woven into the fabric of our very existence and can be one of life’s greatest teachers and can help […]

Widow’s Wedding Anniversary Brings Flood of Memories

Posted on September 1, 2012 - by Marta Dorton

The anniversary of our anniversary is the hardest of all. We would be married 29 years by now. I think we would have made it through all that life still had to throw at us. But life had other plans. I looked at our wedding photos today, our faces bright with youth, hope, love; family and friends wishing us a great future; the expectation of growing old together taken for granted. We politely placed a slice of fresh, creamy cake into the other’s mouth, reflecting the respect and admiration we would hold for each other in the years to come. […]

Life’s Transitions, Friendships, and the ‘Widow Infection’

Posted on August 31, 2012 - by Catherine Tidd

I feel like I’m in a period of transition, which is not unusual for me. It’s really not unusual for anyone like me, and by that I mean a woman in her 30s This year, I will be turning 36, which means that if I were in elementary school, it would be perfectly okay to round up to 40. But I’m not in elementary school, so it’s not okay. I don’t mind being in my 30s because I’m starting to recognize it for what it is and I think lot of my friends are as well. This is the time […]