Open to Hope Articles

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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Ground Hog Days

Posted on March 5, 2020 - by Neal Raisman

This is an excerpt from Standing on One Leg by Neal Raisman available from the author at iduhpres@hotmail.com The first weeks and months were like the movie, Groundhog Day. I began each day the same way. Waking. Feeling a free floating anger. Seeing his body on the floor and shuddering in the reality of his death. Struggling to push myself out of bed. Not wanting to get up. The bed and sleep being the only place and time when I could momentarily forget reality.  Sleep became a blessing. A time when the horror of that day did not repeat itself […]

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Can Grief Be As Silent as Death Itself?

Posted on March 2, 2020 - by Neal Raisman

This is an excerpt from Standing on One Leg by Neal Raisman available from the author at iduhpres@hotmail.com Loss is not always the screaming in the halls of the hospital. Or at the crash. Scene of the crime. Death is often not dramatic. Not as dramatic as my 26-year-old son lying dead on his bedroom floor. No. It often comes quite away from the living. Quietly. Taking without anyone knowing. Maybe even the victim. Sudden and quiet. No screams. No sudden awareness. Forget angels and choirs. Bright light or tunnels. Just a sudden nothing and quiet to be shattered by […]

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GPS: Finding Your Way Back

Posted on February 29, 2020 - by Fran Gerstein

This is an excerpt from Grief From the Inside Out: Creating Meaning Around the Loss of a Child from Substance Abuse or Suicide, By Fran Gerstein, MSW, LCSW. It is available through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999563513/    GPS When I lost my child a small, quavering voice appeared— not quite mine, not quite not mine. It announced, through static, that I was being rerouted.   I tried to follow the orange signs marked Detour but they led me to the edge of a cliff. Still trusting and obedient, I drove right off.   When I regained consciousness, I lay there for […]

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Embracing Quiet on the Grief Journey

Posted on February 28, 2020 - by Harriet Hodgson

This is an excerpt from Happy Again! Your New and Meaningful Life After Loss, available from Amazon. Understanding yourself helps you recover from loss. You may call this self-awareness or “emotional intelligence,” a term coined by Dr. Daniel Goleman. In his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, Goleman explains the basics of the term. He thinks self-awareness involves recognizing strengths and weaknesses “and seeing yourself in a positive but realistic light.” Being self-aware helps you avoid pitfalls. Similarly, a lack of self-awareness can lead you straight to them. Since I was a small child I have […]

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Stages of Grief

The 5 Stages of Grief and Coping Strategies

Posted on February 28, 2020 - by Gloria Horsley

At some point in each of our lives, we will experience grief — sometimes, more than once. And, when we do, each grief experience is unique to us, as individuals. We have our own perspective, beliefs, and feelings that impact the length of the grieving process. And, we each have personal triggers that can bring that grief back to the surface. However, one of the existing theories on grief provides a good framework for understanding the overall grieving process. Developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the five stages of grief model continues to be the go-to framework for understanding how grief moves […]

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Accepting Comfort in the Early Days

Posted on February 28, 2020 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

This is an excerpt from When Every Day Matters: A Mother’s Memoir on Love, Loss and Life (Simple Abundance Press), available on Amazon The loss of Jennifer (my sister’s five-year old child) was monumental for everyone.  I felt woefully inadequate in comforting my sister, Eileen, or my mother because no one, not even a big sister or daughter, can give much to a mother who has lost her precious child.  That mother or grandmother wants only one thing: that child back in her arms. The years 1988 and 1989 were sad and dark periods of mourning for our family and […]

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Early Days After Child-Loss: Survival

Posted on February 28, 2020 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

Excerpted from When Every Day Matters: A Mother’s Memoir on Love, Loss and Life (Simple Abundance Press) on Amazon. When you really want to pray for something and you do not receive it, you tend to believe that your prayer was not answered….it is true that at times your prayer is not answered in a direct way ….Unknown to you, that prayer has secretly worked on another aspect of the situation and effected a transfiguration which may become visible only at a later stage. ~John O’Donohue~ Eternal Echoes July 14, 1999 Dear Katie, Today you have been gone four days.  […]

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They Help You in Ways They Never Could Before

Posted on February 25, 2020 - by Karen Noe

This is an excerpt from Your Life After Their Death: A Medium’s Guide to Healing After a Loss, by Karen Noe available on Amazon.com. Your deceased loved ones are able to help you in ways they never could before. Because they don’t have bodies that limit where they are able to go, they can be wherever they’d like to be with a simple thought. They put the right people in your path, place thoughts in your head about how to accomplish your goals, inform you of things you didn’t know, grant you peace when you need it, help you to […]

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fear of dying

The Coronavirus and Grieving the Fear of Your Own Death

Posted on February 25, 2020 - by Gloria Horsley

The Coronavirus, also known by its scientific name of COVID-19, is most likely on all of our minds. With so much coverage about how it can spread to epidemic proportions if not addressed proactively, the fear about it grows. Many may even call to mind some of those movies like “Contagion.” These types of movies dramatize the impact  a virus can have on the world. Fear Grows Already, we see how our viewers are reacting to media coverage. We’ve receive more questions and concerns about the Coronavirus. Even though we covered it previously, it’s important to revisit it, which was […]

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Do It Anyway

Posted on February 22, 2020 - by Allen Klein

This is an excerpt from Embracing Life After Loss: A Gentle Guide for Growing Through Grief by Allen Klein. Available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Life-After-Loss-Growing/dp/1642500062/ref=sr_1_1?crid=330F5I7PHDK96&keywords=embracing+life+after+loss+klein&qid=1579904828&sprefix=Embracing+lif%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1 Life is risky; we are all acrobats tiptoeing over one bridge or another. To a tightrope walker the rope is just like home. Those who hold their bodies lightly and their minds simply may seem in danger, but they are safe. —Chinese scroll saying Recently I received an email from a woman who lost her young husband in a car crash. She said that with his death, her “life has not been and never will be […]

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