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 3,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.
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Grief is a Teacher, Teacher Says
June 3, 2025
Grief is a Teacher It had been only six weeks since my 24-year-old son was killed in a car accident. That amazing young drummer who charmed most anyone he met with his good looks and kind personality, the one with the sparkle in his eyes that hinted at a bit of mischief, the one people were drawn to by his charismatic personality, the one who never in 24 years hesitated to hug his mom in front of his friends and audibly tell her he loved her. Yeah, that one. His physical presence was now gone, and though my raw grief […]
Handling Grief Triggers
June 3, 2025
Handling Grief Triggers Triggers are a natural and inevitable part of grieving. It is essential not to avoid them, as not all are negative. When we find ways to prepare and cope with triggers, we are honoring the lives of our precious loved ones. Triggers are anything that causes the emotions of Grief to transport us back to moments that feel as vivid as the day of loss, reminding us of our weakest point. Triggers creep around every corner and attack without warning. Have you ever been going about your day — grocery shopping, taking the kids to school, showering, […]
Elizabeth Coplan: Conversations on Loss and Grief
May 29, 2025
Looking for an opportunity to express your grief? Join Dr’s Gloria and Heidi Horsley and their guest Elizabeth Coplan playwright and author of Grief Dialogues: The Play and Grief Dialogues: The Experience for a timely conversation about death, dying and grief. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/www.opentohope.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Elizabeth-Coplan-Conversations-on-Loss-and-Grief.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Mother Finds Comfort Saying Daughter’s Name
May 29, 2025
Few ask how I’m doing these days. Friends have resumed their lives and so have I. Today, I’m living a new, meaningful and happy life. Yet there are times when the pain of losing my daughter in 2007 hits without warning. Suddenly, I am transported back in time and see terrible images from the hospital emergency room. Since these mental pictures drag me down, I consciously switch my thoughts to positive pictures, such as my twin grandchildren graduating from high school. I’m glad I learned how and when to do this. Though we all go through grief, Americans tend to […]
Moving after Loss: The Grief of Leaving the Home You Love
May 27, 2025
Moving after Loss Moving is one of the most stressful experiences of life. My husband and I have moved so many times we’ve lost count and we’re good at moving. We’ve lived in our present house for 20 years, the longest time we’ve lived anywhere, and made the house our own. This house has nurtured us through some tough times and now we must move. In the fall, my husband’s aorta dissected for the second time. He had three emergency surgeries, including a 13-hour operation to graft a Dacron descending aorta to his existing aorta. It was life-threatening surgery. His […]
Why I Talk to Light Bulbs: I See My Dead Son
May 26, 2025
Why I Talk to Light Bulbs I see my dead son everywhere. Within days of Charlie’s death by suicide three years ago, I noticed flickers everywhere. He’s out of reach, and my brain knows it, but my brain keeps looking for him. He has thoroughly infiltrated my senses, revealing himself in sounds like clinking beer bottles, the rumbling laughter of his father, and the flicker of the lights that illuminate my bathroom vanity. When I was thick with grief, unable to eat or focus or track simple conversations, muscle memory pulled me through the motions of simple hygiene each morning. […]
Nature and Grief: Empowering Teachings from the World Around Us
May 23, 2025
Nature and Grief Following the death of my eighteen-year-old daughter Jeannine in March of 2003, I embraced non-ordinary phenomena to help me develop new insights. One of the things that became clear to me was that we do survive death, and that our deceased loved ones communicate their ongoing existence to us. My willingness to understand the significance of signs and their underlying connections have allowed me to develop clarity and find my peace with Jeannine’s death. There are many individuals who don’t believe in signs or for whatever reason have not received them. However, there are different ways to […]
Scripting Our Own Grief Paths after the Death of Our Children
May 17, 2025
Relationship Continues after Daughter’s Death The relationship that I continue to share with my daughter Jeannine following her death in 2003 has on most days allowed me to embrace a peaceful perspective. As part of our ongoing relationship, she has regularly communicated signs of her presence. In the beginning, I longed for signs because the pain of her physical absence was unbearable. Today, I still welcome signs from my daughter but no longer rely on them. Jeannine makes her presence known when I need it most or simply when she desires contact with me. I also know that I can […]
After Loss: Fear Can Be An Asset to Grieving Individuals
May 13, 2025
“No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear”– C.S. Lewis This first line in C.S. Lewis’s book A Grief Observed , inspired me to reflect on how I experienced fear during the early days of grief following my daughter Jeannine’s death. Jeannine was eighteen when she died on March 1,2003 from cancer. My fear manifested in uncertainty about my ability to live again in a world without my daughter. I feared that my other children would also die. These fears were triggered because my once predictable ,orderly and safe world was a distant memory. To […]
