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Do you want to read stories of others who have been where you are? Are you looking for bereavement help, and advice? Look no further. We offer over 7,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.

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Dear Motherless Daughter: As Mother’s Day Approaches

Posted on April 14, 2022 - by Mershon Niesner

Dear Motherless Daughter, You’re probably not looking forward to Mother’s Day this year—or any year. I’ve been motherless since I was eight and I still don’t look forward to Mother’s Day. Even when my children were young and celebrated me with handmade cards and burnt toast, I still felt sad that I wasn’t able to personally celebrate with my mom. When I was a kid, my dad and I planted window boxes for my mother on Mother’s Day. The colorful boxes sat under the two windows at the front of our modest, post-war bungalow in Nebraska. Ever since, flowers have […]

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Don’t Rush Grief

Posted on April 12, 2022 - by Karla Noland

Grief didn’t strike me the moment my mother died. Instead, my grief began when I realized my mother was dying, which was on her 78th birthday. Shock, disbelief, and sadness weighed on me from that moment on because I knew the inevitable would happen. When my mother passed away, I acknowledged that she was no longer in pain and had gone to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but I did not give myself space to grieve. I distracted myself from the pain by going back to work in an attempt to return to some semblance of normalcy. […]

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Accepting the Hand You’re Dealt

Posted on April 11, 2022 - by Mershon Niesner

Bitter or Better “You either get bitter or you get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate. It belongs to YOU.” —Josh Shipp, youth motivational speaker Actor Christopher Reeve once said, “You play the hand your dealt. I think the game’s worthwhile.” Considering his paralysis following a severe spinal cord injury, this quote carries much weight. As we learn to accept the hand we are dealt, we move beyond the pain […]

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How to Say Farewell

Posted on April 11, 2022 - by Dr. Edward Creagan

Familiarity with Dying I have dedicated my life to death. For over forty winters at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, I have been at the bedside with over 40,000 patient encounters in the last stages of their lives on this earth. Held the hands of family members. Prayed with them. Listened. Answered questions (not all questions had answers, such as these: How long am I going to live? Who will be with me? Will my family forgive me? and Will I have pain?). My book, Farewell: Vital End-of-Life Questions with Candid Answers from a Leading Palliative and Hospice Physician, […]

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As My Mother Lay Dying

Posted on April 11, 2022 - by Karla Noland

Not Much Time Left A week before Thanksgiving, my aunt called me and said my mother didn’t have much time left, and the nurse on call at the hospice facility said I should come right away. I booked a flight to Houston the next day for my husband, our youngest son, and myself. We stayed at my mother’s house as we traveled back and forth to the hospice facility to sit at her bedside. By this time, cancer had ravaged my mother’s body. She no longer had any body fat and was down to skin and bones. The doctor placed her […]

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Cracked Open by Loss

Posted on April 11, 2022 - by Teena Evert

I recently wrote a book about healing yourself from the pain of loss. It will give you a new perspective on how to face challenges in your life. Life’s losses can help you expand as a spiritual being and grow your ability to love yourself and live your life to the fullest. Cracked Open is for anyone experiencing grief, a natural response to losing something important in your life, such as the death of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, or experiencing significant life transitions. May it give you permission to discover more about yourself and shine hope, […]

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Gratitude is Most Powerful on Difficult Days

Posted on March 27, 2022 - by Dr. Peggy DeLong

Gratitude is Most Powerful on Difficult Days Don’t save gratitude for your good days. Gratitude is most powerful on your difficult days. Keep it simple. When you are going through a difficult time, think about one simple thing you are grateful for. That stops negative thinking from spiraling out of control, shifts your energy, and elevates your mood.  It doesn’t change your circumstances, but focusing on gratitude is powerful and can completely transform the way you view your situation and how you feel. Finding Gratitude in a Cup I discovered the power of gratitude during anticipatory grief – in 1994 […]

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Ideas for Coping With Loss

Posted on March 27, 2022 - by Dr. Peggy DeLong

Making Loss Meaningful The death of a loved one is a traumatic and emotionally painful experience. The following suggestions are made to hopefully alleviate some of that pain, to turn a painful experience into a healing experience, and to make the experience meaningful. Allow yourself to be fully present with your emotions and sensations. Even though grief can feel terrible and overwhelming, it is a normal reaction to death, and a healthy part of the healing process. Allow the tears to flow when you feel like crying. During grief, we sometimes experience our loved one through our senses. This can […]

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3 Ways to Foster Strength and Resilience

Posted on March 27, 2022 - by Dr. Peggy DeLong

First Way to Foster Strength The first way to train yourself to foster strength is to induce relaxation on demand. Being able to shut off the negative thinking going on in your brain is an important skill that helps you begin to relax. This is a skill that takes practice, but you can learn. The more you practice relaxation exercises when you are feeling calm, the more familiar they will feel, and the more effective they will be when you are experiencing anxiety. When you engage in relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing and meditation, you are quieting your mind, […]

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Cultivating Hope During Difficult Times

Posted on March 27, 2022 - by Dr. Peggy DeLong

Hope for Better Days What do you do when it seems like everything is going wrong? What can you do when it feels like you’ve got too much burden to bear and can’t go on? How can you possibly cope when you’re experiencing profound grief?​ Hope. Hope for better days ahead.​ Fostering Hope There are many benefits to fostering hope, whether you’re going through a difficult time right now, or not.  And it IS possible to foster hope, even if you’re in the midst of profound grief. In fact, that’s when you need hope the most. Sometimes it feels like […]

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