It all began when my father announced that he was living and dying with cancer. When we found out, Andrew and I with our two children (who were teenagers then) moved from McFarland, Wisconsin to Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to my Dad as he negotiated the passage of death. We moved into our PhoenixContinue reading “When Loss Goes on For Miles”
Category Archives: Healing Journey
Grieving in All Directions
Grief scatters darkness as a prism scatters light. So, when we respond to grief, we’re forced to take a soulful journey in all directions. No doubt, it would be easier if grieving were more orderly. If only there were three, or five, or even ten grieving assignments we could line up and knock off oneContinue reading “Grieving in All Directions”
“Doing Grief” Wins Coveted Nautilus Award
I’m delighted to announce that my book, Doing Grief in Real Life won a silver medal in the 2023 Nautilus Awards. The Nautilus Book Awards judge independent authors alongside big and small traditional presses and recognize books that focus on spiritual growth, green values and sustainability, wellness, and positive social change. Past winners include BarbaraContinue reading ““Doing Grief” Wins Coveted Nautilus Award”
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 “
Griever, Know Thyself
Self-awareness. As adults, there’s no getting around it. You can try, of course, and many of us die trying. So it may be tempting to move speedily through this holiday season without pausing to consider the ins and outs of your intimate relationship with grief. There’s no crime in that if it works for you.Continue reading “Griever, Know Thyself”
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”
Knowing Nothing of Grief But Your Own
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is my hero. But her five stages of grief are not. Kubler-Ross was a pioneer in the death and dying movement – bringing understanding, compassion and a sense of community to the dying and their families. She also gave us a simple explanation of the grieving process we could understand and remember. TheContinue reading “Knowing Nothing of Grief But Your Own”
Your Own Best Grief Expert
When I was a senior in high school, my best friend Sheri died in an accident. She was on a date with a young man whose car went out of control and hit a tree. Eric, the driver of the car, was severely injured in the crash. All I could think to do at theContinue reading “Your Own Best Grief Expert”
Living With Your Grief
Physical death is often regarded as the ultimate grief-striking loss – the common denominator of our species. But death is hardly the most common loss we humans endure. Some of us make it all the way to middle age without experiencing the death of an intimate or seriously contemplating the inevitability of our own physicalContinue reading “Living With Your Grief”
Outrageous Fortune
Seeing Grief From a Different Perspective Proverbial wisdom says that all good things must come to an end. In the same breath, it declares that all good things come to those who wait. Such are the contradictions of grief. Grief is a private waiting room where you sit brooding for such attendants as love, joy,Continue reading “Outrageous Fortune”