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Articles:

Growing After Mistakes

by Lou LaGrand Everyone makes mistakes or fails in their attempts to grow and meet the challenges of daily life. Without these miscues little would be learned and growth as a person would be limited. In short, failure is a key ingredient for success and should be looked at as a resource for moving forward, not a behavior to be despised. There is one exception to the above observation: when someone makes a mistake, refuses to learn from it, and keeps repeating the same error expecting positive change to occur. This easily happens in the emotional turmoil of mourning the […]

Effective Techniques to Deal with Grief

by Amy Twain Losing someone very dear to your heart can indeed be a truly devastating experience. There are a variety of methods in which you could reduce the hurting emotions of sorrow and loss that you feel through grief counseling. Though we don’t like to be labeled as ‘weak’ or inept in coping with our pain and misery, sometimes it’s still very comforting and helpful in knowing that there are valuable and efficient ways in making our life easier. That’s why we have some of these techniques which can be effective in dealing with our grieving process. And these […]

When Life Happens…Hints for Surviving Traumatic Loss

by Kent Whitaker Life happens to all of us, but have you noticed that some people come out of trials stronger, and some come out crushed? We can’t stop bad things from happening, but we do have some control over how we respond to them. I wasn’t much better at this than the next guy before my wife and son were murdered five years ago. But I have learned a few tricks. In times of loss we need friends and family more than ever, to help us from feeling isolated and helpless. But the sad thing is, now people don’t […]

Lessons Learned in Grief Loss

by Risa Mason-Cohen English actress Natasha Richardson was only 45 when she suffered a devastating brain injury resulting from what appeared to be a minor fall during a beginners ski lesson, leaving behind a husband and two sons. A client of mine lost her closest lifelong friend to a drunken driving accident only seconds after they said goodnight at a mutual friend’s house party. A man in North Charleston woke suddenly to the smell of smoke and was forced to throw his beloved dog from a third floor apartment building in the hope of saving the animal’s life. A woman […]

Noticing and Grieving Go Together

by Chris Mulligan Learning to “notice” during my first year of grief was more important than anything else in helping me survive my grief. It also provided me a major life lesson. I realized that noticing was the vehicle through which I have come to accept my life experiences as well as be able to move through them and learn from them. All the major events in my life – those that caused the most pain and eventually precipitated the most growth – have also caused me to reflect upon and recognize that the suffering was present for a reason. […]

Man Alive for Nearly 40 Years With Donated Organs

By Ken Trachy In 1972, suffering from end-stage kidney failure, I received a kidney transplant at the University of Minnesota. This had followed two years of debilitating disease and feelings of desperation and hopelessness. After learning of my diagnosis, my father said to a friend of mine, “Kenny won’t live to see 30.” Disconsolate, I urged the woman with whom I had shared a three-year relationship to marry me, thinking it would be preferable she be left a widow rather than a girlfriend. It was the paralyzing fear of death that was pervasive in my life, and that preoccupied all […]

Symptoms of Bereavement Stress

by Margo Bastos Bereavement and loss will come to all of us at some time in our lives. Many people are losing jobs, homes and other securities in today’s world. It really helps us to cope with bereavement if we are able to recognise the feelings as being normal in the circumstances. 9 Symptoms of Bereavement Stress Lack of Sleep or Interrupted Sleep You lie awake for hours and are not able to fall asleep OR you wake up regularly during the night. Maybe you wake up in the early hours of the morning and are not able to go […]

Of Fathers and Faith

Father’s Day is just ahead, and for more than 150 million Americans whose fathers have died, it will be a day of missing Dad. Father’s Day can be a traumatic day for those of us whose fathers who have died and the anticipation of the day is often as difficult – or even more difficult – than the holiday itself. Whether it’s been recent or many years since Dad passed away, we have to somehow get through the day as well as remember and honor Dad’s life. When John Pete ask me to write a blog on how my faith […]

Purchasing Funeral Flowers

by Barbara K. Jackson A funeral is a very, very sad time for most families and as such care should be taken in purchasing any funeral flowers. This article explains how you should approach purchasing your flowers to get the very best from them and to suit this very sensitive occasion. Funeral flowers are the perfect way to share your grief with the bereaved. It can be a mine field when you first look into sending flowers for a funeral. There are many different types of funeral arrangements, and you must bear in mind that different cultures sometimes may view […]

Should Man Contact Parents of High School Classmate Who Died?

Question from Al: Should I contact parents whose child, a high school friend, died 20 years ago? I feel awkward about doing this, especially at my age, mostly because she was their only child, and I don’t want to invade their lives or bring them any more grief. I am married and have children and have discussed this with my wife. Dr. Gloria Horsley responds: Dear Al, Your e-mail question really resonated with me. My son, Scott, was killed 26 years ago and as a result of Facebook my daughters have been hearing from many of their and his old […]

Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.