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After Mom’s Death, Daughter Struggles With Dad’s Girlfriend

Posted on May 13, 2023 - by John Pete

Daughter Struggles with Dad’s Girlfriend Heather asks for advice: In November, it will be two years since my mother died after a prolonged illness. My father started dating a woman this summer. I supported him finding companionship. He and Mom were together for 35 years, so it had been a long time since he was alone. Unfortunately, I have not dealt well with the reality of his girlfriend. He wants to include her in all of our family gatherings and has told me that he expects me to become friends with her. My mom and I were very close before […]

Your Deceased Loved Ones Are Okay and Want You To Know That

Posted on May 13, 2023 - by Karen Noe

Your Deceased Loved Ones Are Okay As a psychic medium, I have the job of reconnecting with those who made their transition to the other side. When clients first come see me, I explain we are eternal spiritual beings having a temporary human experience on earth. The energy of who we are continues to exist after the physical body dies. Our deceased loved ones often come around us to let us know they are okay. When they do, they retain their original personality, one of the ways to tell messages are from them. One day while I was taking a […]

How to Release Guilt After Loss of a Child

Posted on May 10, 2023 - by Catherine McNulty

Mother’s Guilt is Inevitable After the loss of a child, a mother’s guilt is inevitable. There may be things she wishes she had done. There may also be things she wishes she hadn’t done. She may have made serious mistakes that carried grave consequences. She likely feels guilty. If you feel guilt, too, you know what I mean. In the weeks and months after losing her child, a mother often struggles to be patient with herself. She struggles to forgive herself. She experiences the emotional torture of never knowing if her actions could have changed anything. The uncertainty haunts her […]

Putting Your Grief Wisdom to Work

Posted on May 8, 2023 - by Colleen Friesen

People living with the loss of a significant relationship often find themselves buried beneath avalanches of advice and information. Additionally, when we suffer, we tend to seek out material that will help us cope. There is an abundance of wisdom right here at Open to Hope! Throughout this website, you will find incredible gems of wisdom. Some time ago, I began working on a book on grief I hope to publish one day. As I organized my outline, I was reminded of all the wisdom I had discovered in my own grief journey and was encouraged to put it back […]

The Decade Difference: Ten Years After a Suicide

Posted on May 8, 2023 - by Maggie Bauer

The Difference in a Decade In the beginning, I didn’t know how I was going to survive to the next day. My first thought when I awoke was, oh no my brother is dead. The physical heartache, tears, lethargy, fatigue, loss of concentration followed; my body even forced me to stop eating gluten and dairy. There was a deep heaviness within me and how I saw the rest of the world. Some days it felt like a depressive cloak over me that I couldn’t remove. As time moved forward, Chris’ death day — the 22nd of each month — protruded […]

My Adult Son’s Death Has Changed My Life

Posted on May 7, 2023 - by Basia Mosinski

Son’s Death Has Changed My Life When someone we love dies, we are changed. When that someone is our child, we are changed forever, deeply, no matter how old they were. Letting go is not a possibility. Everything in my being was geared to hold on, to protect and to be aware of his life. It didn’t matter that he was an adult, twice the size of me. Past, present and future collapsed into a series of nows. This event shook me to my core. I have lost parts of myself. How can this happen? Where did he go? Where […]

Does Everything Happen ‘For a Reason’?

Posted on May 2, 2023 - by Greg Adams

Does Everything Happen For a Reason? Somewhere in adolescence, certainly before young adulthood, I heard the saying, “everything happens for a reason.” It seems like I’ve always known this phrase. It is very common and obviously a powerfully meaningful and comforting phrase for many. But not for all. For some of us, it ranges from empty to offensive to somewhere in-between. If you are a grieving one who has found a reason, or more than one, for your loss, all support to you. If you are a grieving one for whom no reason has been or will be found for […]

Finding Purpose During Grief

Posted on April 30, 2023 - by Colleen Friesen

When someone we love leaves this world ahead of us, we are left feeling lost and confused. We grapple to find ways to make sense of what has happened. Finding a purpose or torch we can carry onward is one of the most powerful ways to cope with grief. Igniting Your Torch As those left behind, still living out the life we came here to live, we can get lost in despair. I often find my thoughts taking sad, dark paths of doubt. I wonder to myself, ‘what is the point?’ We struggle through life, trying to have a positive […]

Positive Attitude and Faith in Grief

Posted on April 27, 2023 - by Dr. Carol Leibovich Mankes

Positive Attitude Little did I know that my life experiences would bring me to the understanding of the utmost importance of solid, loving, supportive parenting and its role in a child’s future resilience. These realities also taught me the meaning of self-reflection and facing life with a positive attitude and faith. My journey began in Israel. I was born in Israel to Argentinian parents who fought tooth and nail to give my brothers and me a good life. It wasn’t easy living in a country where war/peace was a constant topic. At times, sirens signaled to hide in the building […]

Healthy Baby Brings Joy After Losses

Posted on April 25, 2023 - by Ken Lefkowitz

Healthy Baby Brings Joy After the death of two babies, my wife Sheila gave birth to a healthy baby boy. “Wow, he’s just great,” I told Sheila as I leaned over her hospital bed to kiss her on the forehead. She was in pain from the C-Section incision, but this time happiness enveloped her, diminishing any discomfort. “I was able to suit up in whites and special sanitized gloves. In these, I can enter the Infant Intensive Care Unit. I’ve held his hand and touched his face through special holes in the side of his clear plastic covered crib. Doctor […]