In the first few weeks and months of grief we experience numbness and shock. Just like the body’s physical reaction to trauma we go into shock, our psyches protect us from experiencing the full reality of a death. This is how it’s supposed to be. It’s how we’re wired and thank goodness for that. Rather …
Healing means becoming whole. Period. End of story. It does not mean returning to a previous state of being as I heard someone say on the radio the other day. All it means is becoming whole. After the experience of death and the grief that follows, that wholeness will be dramatically different from what we …
Every so often I get a message from someone who is grieving the death of someone, usually a parent, who was abusive. To say this complicates grief is the understatement of all time. The mix of grief and abuse is so confusing. So what’s really going on? Every so often I get a message from …
Is there a difference between “trying to be strong” and choosing to grieve privately? In our culture, we are applauded for “being strong” after we’ve experienced a profound loss. We actually get a tremendous about of approval for being strong in the face of any kind of pain. So rather than allowing ourselves to be …
We are helpless when it comes to death. There is absolutely no way we can manage, control or stop it. It’s going to happen to each and every one of us. And before it’s our turn at the deli counter, we will be confronted with the deaths of those we cannot imagine living without. And …
Grief does not require strength it requires vulnerability Read More »
“Healing through grief does not mean remaining unchanged.” ~ How to Survive Your Grief The capacity and willingness to be changed by death may be the distinguishing characteristic between those who heal from loss and those who don’t. In end of life care, we often talk about how people die the way they have lived. …
Changed by Death: How willing are you to be transformed? Read More »
Quote: Karen Payne Photo Credit: Susan L. Fuller
Quote: Mark Liebenow Photo Credit: Susan L. Fuller
Photo Credit: jetmonizer
This is such an wonderful description of the anger of grief… As I grew older, I realized this thing I’d been alternately dealing with and avoiding was grief, and probably anger. Logically, I knew it didn’t make sense to be angry. It was no one’s fault. She didn’t choose this. But I was still mad …