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Recipes for Finding Joy for the Holiday Season

Posted on December 4, 2010 - by Robin Edgar

During the holiday season, families make plans to get together for good food, good times, and good memories — or maybe not. Holiday gatherings can be times of sadness if a family is separated from or has lost a loved one. Celebrating the special times you had with them can ease that pain. In addition to filling your table with delectable treats, use the following recipe to feed your soul with happy memories and to find joy during the holidays. Ingredients to Trigger Memories of Your Loved One: Smells like cinnamon, perfume, or burning wood Sounds like a slamming screen […]

Avoiding the Victim Role while Mourning

Posted on December 3, 2010 - by Harriet Hodgson

Finding your way through the grief maze takes time, gut-level honesty, and personal courage. Questions keep you awake at night and haunt your days. Who am I now? Will I survive this? What will life become? Unfortunately, some mourners succumb to the victim role, which is damaging and nonproductive. After four family members, including my daughter, died in 2007, the victim role was tempting. I wanted to wallow in grief and victimization. I’m a grandmother and, thanks to life experience, I was able to resist this temptation. Becoming a victim would only make more trouble for me at a troubling […]

Errol Clifford was pure joy

Posted on December 2, 2010 - by admin

Errol Clifford died last year and we are grief stricken. We still find hope in his joy and optimism. http://www.errolclifford.com/

Avoiding the Holiday Hum ‘Bug’

Posted on December 2, 2010 - by Kate McGrath

Thanksgiving has left me full and tired. I am full – not only of turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes, but with gratitude and thanksgiving for family and friends. I am tired – exhausted from filling myself with so much food and from the emotional toll that often accompanies the holiday seasons. Now that the feast and holiday of Thanksgiving is done, I have begun to anticipate the holiday of Christmas and all that it entails: various sights, sounds, and smells which have certain bitter-sweet associations attached. Due to the anxiety that comes about as a result of worrying what Christmas […]

Address Book Links Then … and Now

Posted on December 1, 2010 - by Mary Westra

Early in the morning of Sunday, July 8, 2001, the sheriff drove up to our house and the chaplain told us through the screen door that our twenty-four year old son Peter had been kicked to death by bouncers in Atlantic City. When they came in, they asked for my address book. “In the kitchen . . . second drawer from the door . . . on the left,” I managed to blurt out while clinging to my husband. Somehow, without conscious thought, I came up with the right names, the names of nearby friends who were home and who […]

Depression During the Holidays

Posted on December 1, 2010 - by Joan Haskins

As Santa’s “ho ho ho” drifts toward us, it may not sound much too jolly if we are feeling sad. We tend to think everyone but us is happy, which is one of the biggest myths surrounding Christmas. According to statistics, there is a 15% increase in the number of individuals seeking help for emotional disorders in December. Some causes of holiday depression are: Enormous pressure to get too much done within a specified time. Overwhelming financial obligations. Relationships with family and friends that are more complex and strained at a time when you want them to be perfect. Hard […]

Feeling sad for a friend

Posted on November 30, 2010 - by admin

2.I am 41 yrs old man. From my school days I used to like a classmate of mine. Though I loved her so much it was beyond my scope to express it. I used to love her within my own mind. Ultimately she was married to another person 18 years back and I was married later to a different woman. All went well until 5 years back when her husband died. I was shocked but stayed normal and could not meet her until recently. When I saw her personally, since then a pain started hurting me all the time. This […]

How Friendships May Change for Bereaved

Posted on November 30, 2010 - by Brenda Marshall

“Can’t make lunch tomorrow. We’ll re-schedule,” said the note. It was short, to the point and oh how it stung. It was nearly 3 months since my brother died, and this lunch with one of my oldest and closest friends was something I’d looked forward to for weeks. With a brief email, it was cancelled — as were the next two. And so the friendship drifted, and the person who I thought would be my biggest support disappeared from my life. My story is not unique. I’ve heard it repeated multiple times in different ways over the years. Those we […]

Husband’s Death, Father’s Death

Posted on November 30, 2010 - by Christine Thiele

Five years ago, my kids’ dad died from pancreas cancer. At the time, I did not know what it was like to lose a parent. Both my parents were still living. They were still married to each other and seemed pretty content. All that changed a few months ago. My dad died. Around last Thanksgiving, he was diagnosed with lung cancer…with bone involvement, so it was pretty serious. He decided to take on treatment and fight this cancer. He definitely had ups and downs, and we could all tell he was slowing down. Slowing down…not stopping. He did his best […]

Widowhood Means Doing Holiday Tasks for Two

Posted on November 29, 2010 - by Catherine Tidd

The mood has changed. Not just my mood (although that can change every second, thanks to fluctuating hormone levels and no husband to yell at when I’m cranky for no reason). It seems like everyone’s mood has changed. You know…we’re pretty funny. We can’t just give ourselves a time to adjust to the fact that the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler. We can’t just sit back and relax and accept it for what it is. Nope. Because thanks to Target and Hobby Lobby breaking out the autumn decorations in June and Christmas stuff in July, […]