Making Your Grief Useful  

Grief. Grieving. What’s the difference? Grief is to grieving as the eye is to seeing, as the ear is to hearing. Think of grief as an invisible organ of perception. Think of the difference between grief and grieving as the difference between what a person is and what a person does. Grief is a partContinue reading “Making Your Grief Useful  “

Laughing in the Face of Loss

Some say that the only way to heal grief is to face it and “move through” the pain. I beg to differ. Healing grief is more of a dance. It is holding grief close and letting it go. It is thinking about it and not thinking about it, talking about it and not talking aboutContinue reading “Laughing in the Face of Loss”

Defining Grief on Your Own Terms

Before you know how to heal your grief, you have to get to know the grief that is yours to heal. Put simply, grief is the spontaneous suffering you experience when you are subject to a real or imagined loss of someone or something you greatly value or cherish. But what makes grief so difficultContinue reading “Defining Grief on Your Own Terms”

The Grief in Our Gratitude

We settlers call it “Thanksgiving.” They who were here before us call it “National Day of Mourning.” We remember noble natives sharing fruits and labor, a table spread, wisdom given. They remember 12 million massacred by those who feasted at their table and came wanting more.  We sought our freedom at any cost. They paidContinue reading “The Grief in Our Gratitude”

It’s Grief Awareness Day

Grief comes in all shapes and sizes. Please reach out to someone you know who is suffering grief today – yourself included. “It isn’t the volume of pain that determines its impact. Silent pain can kill just as noisy pain can heal. Attune yourself to the suffering that cannot be heard. Shea Darian, from DoingContinue reading “It’s Grief Awareness Day”

Blessing the Infant Within You

An Audio Contemplation from Doing Grief in Real Life It’s been said that infants commune with angels, that babies and toddlers are protected by spiritual powers from beyond. This seems only right when one considers the vulnerability of the newborn. Angel theories aside, as an infant, your fate rests mostly in the arms of yourContinue reading “Blessing the Infant Within You”

Born Grievers, Born Healers

Creating Healing Environments for the Grieving Child Grief. It’s as much a part of us as blood and bones. We humans are grievers to the core. We love and cherish, and we lose what we love and cherish – through death, divorce, conflict, illness, injury, trauma, financial woes, loss of home or homeland… Even so,Continue reading “Born Grievers, Born Healers”

“Doing Grief in Real Life” Wins IPPY Award

Sun City Author Wins International Award I’m delighted to announce that my new book, Doing Grief in Real Life won a bronze medal in the Independent Book Publishers Association annual IPPY awards. My hometown paper, the Sun City Independent, picked up the good news. Thank you to everyone who helped me dream this book intoContinue reading ““Doing Grief in Real Life” Wins IPPY Award”

New Way of “Doing Grief” Is a Life-Changer

When readers tell me that my new book, Doing Grief in Real Life, changed their life, I believe them. The book was written during a decade-long period of loss and grief unlike any my family had known. The pain was so thick some days, we wondered if joy or lightheartedness would ever come again. MyContinue reading “New Way of “Doing Grief” Is a Life-Changer”