Should we grieve?
 
The Bible says we should cry at birth and rejoice at death. So should we grieve?
 
Webster’s Dictionary gives grief the following definition, “Deep and poignant distress caused by or as by bereavement.” It …

The sharp edge of grief came into my life when my son, Lucas, lost his life to cancer.
It was a sudden, brief battle for him, and the beginning of a season of life I certainly …

After my husband died, I began to eat “carry out dinners.”  And I ate them alone, sitting on the couch in the den.
 
Then one night, while I was standing in a Mexican restaurant waiting for …

But I didn’t say goodbye! That’s all I could think about when I learned that my dad killed himself.  Friends said that he “was no longer in pain,” and that he loved me. But I …

I was asked by a friend of mine if we ever stop being bereaved parents. My friend is also a bereaved parent. It was an interesting question, because approximately two years after my daughter Jeannine …

Nobody knows how many Haitians were killed in the earthquake. The current estimate of 100,000-200,000 is beyond understanding. Though aid is pouring in from around the world, lack of government, communications, roads, heavy equipment, and …

Question from a reader: I recently tried to join a grief group. When the leader found out that my wife had not died, she told me that the others in the group would not feel …

At a recent dinner party, one of my newly-widowed friends complained that another guest wasn’t being nice to her. ”He isn’t talking to me. He isn’t asking how I feel now that I lost my husband,” she …

James writes in: I just ran into this site tonight as I am still grieving deeply of my son James who died in an ATV accident on July 26, 2009. I am a physician and …

On the eleventh day of September 2001, I awoke to a crisp northern New York state morning, the best of blue skies and an audible fall crunch in the air.  I am New York City-born, …

By Suzy Yehl Marta –
Josh was a quiet kid, a seventh grader in a mid-size, Midwest city whose parents’ divorce left him bereft. Fortunately, his school offered a peer-support group for students struggling with family transitions, …

Tami writes in: I just lost my 18-year-old son in a motorcycle accident….I am so devastated!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can someone help me??????? He is my life!
Dr. Gloria Horsley, founder of www.opentohope.com, responds: Dear Tami: Our hearts go …

By Joy Johnson, Centering Corporation –
When the goddess emerged from the cave of her sorrow she wept anew
for there was no one there to greet her. (ancient Greek myth)
One widow said it well: “You find …

By Marty Tousley, CNS-BC, FT –
If you have access to a computer with an Internet connection, you have at your fingertips a wealth of grief information, comfort and support. The Open to Hope Foundation Web …

By Monica Novak
I didn?t see it coming. None of us did. How could we? For Heidi, Tracy, Wendy, and me, it came with the words, ?There?s no heartbeat.? For Dawn, Beth, and Darlene, the crushing …

By Richard Beck
As I ponder what to write in my first article for the Open to Hope Foundation, I imagine what it feels like to read about the universal challenges that face us after we …