Loss of a Family Member

Articles

  • Dad Dying of Dementia

    Posted on May 5, 2025 - by Rachael Martinez

    Dad Dying of Dementia When I was a little girl, I idolized my dad. The ease in which he moved through life, his gentle nature and compassionate soul made being with him feel like being tightly embraced, pulled into a warm hug that could cure the worst kind of day. I remember being in awe of him and his light, his steady hand, the way he made anyone he spoke to feel important. From the joyful and lighthearted years of childhood to the trying, sticky years of adolescence, my dad was a place of solace for me, carrying my burdens […]

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  • Space to Heal: Finding Meaning after Loss

    Posted on May 20, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

    Coping with the death of my twin has been an incredibly challenging and personal experience. Finding meaning and purpose in the aftermath has and continues to be a deeply personal journey. My writing helps. I offer these suggestions for individuals as they navigate their own loss. Give yourself space to heal It is important to give yourself permission to grieve in your way and at your own pace. By allowing yourself the space to heal, you can gradually find meaning and purpose as you move forward on your journey of healing and self-discovery. When it comes to exploring new passions […]

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  • People Will Say Stupid Stuff

    Posted on May 13, 2024 - by Brooke Carlock

    People Will Say Stupid Stuff When it comes to insensitive comments, you will be on the receiving end of a ton of them. Yes, people will say stupid stuff. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s usually not the offending person’s fault—grief is an awkward topic for most people, and they struggle for the right words of comfort. Most people just grasp at straws and then fall back on common platitudes. Here are some platitudes that I personally heard. Religious People Will Say Stupid Stuff “God needed another angel in Heaven,” “God called her home,” and “God only takes […]

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  • Soul and Grief Connection

    Posted on April 8, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

    The soul and grief are deeply intertwined in many spiritual and philosophical traditions. It’s only natural that after someone dies, those they leave behind will start to question and want to find meaning. Grief can lead individuals to ask questions, prompting them to think about the nature of existence and the soul’s relationship with the material world. This journey, though difficult, can lead to profound insights and philosophical and spiritual growth, reshaping our understanding of life and death. BELIEVING IN THE AFTERLIFE  Believing in the afterlife can offer immense comfort to those grieving, providing a sense of continuation beyond physical […]

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  • Grief and Joy Merge in Love

    Posted on March 25, 2024 - by Judy Lipson

    Grief is Love, Joy is Love What words come to mind when we think of love? I think of emotion, devotion, adoration, and respect. Each person may have their own unique definition of love. I want to speak about love in grief and love in joy, two powerful feelings, and how I came to realize love is the connection to both. For years, the dichotomy in my brain never allowed me to witness the symmetry of grief and joy, and find a place in my heart for both. Grief is Deep Losing my cherished sisters Margie and Jane forever changed […]

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  • Writing through Grief

    Posted on March 25, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

    I write about grief to help me through the ‘grieving process’ after the loss of my twin. I hope it helps you too. Grief is complex; it’s based around individual experiences that people go through in response to loss. WRITING HELPS ME Writing helps me through the grieving process after the loss of my twin. It allows me to express how I feel, myself. The act of putting thoughts into words, I find is cathartic and healing. GRIEF IS NOT LINEAR It is important to be aware that grief is not a linear process. It does not have a defined […]

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  • Grief Can Transform the Future

    Posted on March 4, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

    Grief can throw a spanner in the works, but it can also bring acceptance and closure positively, so long as we’re honest with ourselves. Our experiences can distort our perception of the past. It can feel like our memories are no longer reliable, as grief colours everything with its darkness. A SPANNER IN THE WORKS  A spanner may throw our past into the works because the past isn’t always kind, so we alter how we perceive it. Loss can stop us in our tracks, and it can make us question the value and meaning of our experiences. Grief can make […]

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  • A Spiritual and Healing Journey

    Posted on February 26, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

    Spirituality and healing around grief is inevitably an individual and personal journey, with no two people sharing the same experiences. While my interest in spirituality started in childhood, my spiritual and healing journey started in earnest some 13+ years ago when I set up my website, The CP Diary, following my Cerebral Palsy diagnosis, aged 46. Personal reflections capture the essence of spirituality and healing. It also highlights the personal nature of spirituality and its potential to accommodate healing on multiple levels—including the physical, emotional and spiritual level. It involves connecting with our inner-selves and being in tune with the […]

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  • Emotional Responses to Grief

    Posted on February 19, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

    Grief is a highly individual and complex emotional experience that manifests differently in each of us. People may express their grief through a variety of emotions and behaviours. Some common ways grief can manifest include: SADNESS AND TEARFULNESS Grief can often involve a deep sense of sadness with memories that can leave many people tearful. ANGER AND GUILT People can often feel angry at their situation, at themselves around their loss. Through grief, they may also direct their anger at others. Guilt around loss can be something individuals grapple with. Some individuals may also feel remorse, questioning if they should […]

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  • The Comfort of Linking Objects 

    Posted on December 5, 2023 - by Harriet Hodgson

    The Comfort of Linking Objects Giving away linking objects is part of my story. Linking objects are things that belong to the deceased person, such as a watch, a bread knife, woodworking tools, and more. As soon as he died, I slipped John’s wedding ring on my finger. Wearing the ring made me feel like John was still with me. I touched the ring and remembered the years we shared. Wearing John’s ring comforts me every day. Linking objects could comfort other family members. I gave John’s black leather medical bag with gold letters on the side that read, “C. […]

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  • Sadness After Sibling Loss

    Posted on April 2, 2023 - by Sue Trace Lawrence

    Sadness After Sibling Loss When a loved one dies, everyone expects the family to experience sadness. Sadness has become a synonym for grief, but the truth is, grief is usually comprised of many mixed emotions. The most prevalent of these are the aforementioned guilt and anger. One of the reasons these two become so strong is due to our society’s labeling of these as “bad” emotions. It is acceptable to be heartbroken that your sibling is gone, but if a child makes statements related to self-centeredness or resentment, he or she is made to feel guilty. Even unhappiness can become […]

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  • About Your Room: Letting Go of a Son’s Belongings

    Posted on February 16, 2023 - by Elizabeth Brady

    Dismantling the Room Your blue camo backpack hung on the back of your desk chair with your Pittsburgh Penguins baseball cap on top of it for eight years. It was as you left it on the last day of school before the Christmas holidays in 2012. It was September 2020; I was in your room with a mug of dark roast and my phone. We had decided to replace the wall-to-wall carpeting upstairs. The installers were coming the next day and I was on deadline. Both Dad and Iz were out of town. The task of dismantling your room came […]

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  • Hope Fatigue: Can We Keep Hope Alive?

    Posted on October 24, 2022 - by Sara Striefel

    I learned a term recently that inspired a new conversation with myself and with the world around me: Hope fatigue. Hope fatigue itself isn’t new. We’ve all experienced the feeling of getting excited about the promise of change, of “better times” ahead, only to find that life seems to stay the same, or it gets darker, scarier, more uncertain. Even though we were initially excited, and maybe even inspired, what we’re left with is one more piece of evidence that, actually, things never change. Maybe they never will. And if I keep fighting to keep hope alive, even in the […]

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  • How to Survive a Memorial Service by Eating All the Cookies

    Posted on July 12, 2022 - by Sherry Walling

    Dad Helped Plan His Memorial Service We had a memorial service for my dad. He helped plan the shindig. He picked the songs for the video slideshow, asked me to speak, and requested that his older sister, Kathy, co-lead the service. Dad requested that his grandsons play music. And he did not want a viewing. He wanted to be cremated. He had a hand in the whole thing. It was one of the strange gifts of cancer, the time to talk about the ending. Honestly, I’m sad that he wasn’t able to attend. I think he would have had a […]

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  • Mantras for Mourning: How to Coexist with Grief

    Posted on June 29, 2022 - by Sara Striefel

    Mantras for Mourning Two and a half years after my mother’s death, I still discover unexpected ways in which grief opens my heart. I am learning that grief, while painful and disorienting at times, can also offer opportunities for profound growth and fresh awareness. It still hurts, often. But I have chosen not to wall myself off when the ache bubbles up. The trick is learning how to coexist with grief so that I can continue to be present and heal. My family recently spent three glorious months on the beaches of Costa Rica. We explored and played and bathed in […]

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  • The Difference Between Healing and Curing

    Posted on June 1, 2022 - by Kelly Grosklags

    There is a difference between healing and curing. We cannot change a diagnosis or a loss that has occurred. We cannot be sure that we will be cured. But we can take steps in healing. Healing is the ability to faces one’s fear with courage, forgive oneself and others, and express love. As we do this, we strengthen our spiritual life and learn to accept support. Healing is always possible. This does not mean the disease has been cured. Rather, it means we are able to accept the diagnosis and receive support. Unfortunately, many people define their life story by […]

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  • Change, the Unwanted Gift

    Posted on June 1, 2022 - by Bernie Siegel

    My wife died 10 days before I wrote these words. What I know I have lost is her physical body, and it makes me feel emptier than I have ever been. We were married for 63 years. At the same time, I have the sense that she’s still with me. What do I mean by that? I mean that her humor, beauty, love and spirit are still beside me and will never be lost by me. As many wise authors note, love is immortal and makes all things immortal. The bridge between the land of the living and the land […]

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  • Finding Your Inner Grief Guide

    Posted on June 1, 2022 - by Bernie Siegel

    Finding My Inner Grief Guide Many years ago, I attended a workshop to enhance my ability to empower my cancer patients to recover. We were taught about imagery and asked to close our eyes and visualize what the physician described to us. He wanted us to find an inner grief guide. I had no belief in what he discussed, so sat with my eyes open looking at him on the stage. When he looked at me and could see I wasn’t following his directions, I closed my eyes to trick him. That’s when interesting things happened. I am an artist […]

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  • Episode 237: Nurturing Hope in Grieving Kids

    Posted on December 22, 2024 - by admin

    How do we nurture hope in grieving kids? Join hosts Dr. Gloria Horsley and her daughter Dr. Heidi Horsley with their guests; Dr. Korie Leigh, Julie Ryan, Dr. Liza Barros-Lane, and Kate Mollison to candidly discuss how to help grieving children. Dr. Korie Leigh is an Associate Professor and Program Director at Marian University, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Heros’ Path Palliative Care. She is the author of, It Won’t Ever Be the Same; A Teens Guide to Grief and Grieving, and What Does Grief Look Like? Julie Ryan is a Medical Intuitive. She is the […]

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  • Episode 192: Finding Love After Loss

    Posted on June 20, 2022 - by admin

    What qualities would you like in a soul mate? Join Dr’s Gloria and Heidi Horsley and their guest Dr. Frank Powers Licensed Psychologist and artist.  Dr. Powers lost his father at age 15 and suffered several failed relationships before finally finding love as a senior adult.  He has helped thousands of grieving people to find hope and love after a loss. He is co-author with Dr. Gloria Horsley of Open to Love: Fearless Dating After 50 & Beyond.            

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  • Episode 190: Dating After Loss?

    Posted on June 20, 2022 - by admin

    How do you know if you are ready to date again? Join Dr’s Gloria and Heidi Horsley and their guest Dr. Frank Powers Licensed Psychologist and artist. Dr. Powers lost his father at age 15 and suffered several failed relationships before finally finding love as a senior adult. He has helped thousands of grieving singles to find hope and love after a loss. He is co-author with Dr. Gloria Horsley of Open to Love: Fearless Dating After 50 & Beyond.

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