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Valuable Lessons about Holiday Grief

Posted on December 1, 2024 - by Nan Zastrow

Valuable Lessons about Holiday Grief “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” (Russell M. Nelson) Holidays were always a Big Deal in our family until the death of my son. They began with family and friends gathering for Halloween costume parties and ended only when the calendar flipped to a new year. The only thing that could make them better was if the next year could be better than the last! When my son died in 1993, we made a lot of changes […]

Thanksgiving Darkness

Posted on November 28, 2024 - by Mark Liebenow

Thanksgiving Darkness Coming home after work in late November, I hear the sounds of children laughing and look down from the BART station at the playground of St. Leander’s School. Children are running around, playing kickball, and delighting in life. My wife Evelyn tutored at the school after hours for several years as her health slowly improved after a year spent in bed exhausted by Candida, then she was hired to work full-time. But it proved to be too much too soon in her recovery, and she ran out of energy after a few weeks. Searching for what she could […]

Synchronicity in Grief

Posted on November 26, 2024 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

What is Synchronicity in Grief? Have you ever had an experience where you said, “Wow, what a coincidence.” Maybe it was more. Maybe it was actually a “synchronicity.” Let me explain through a Jungian perspective. Carl Jung, the prominent Swiss psychiatrist, believed synchronicity meant “more than a coincidence.” Jung, the thinker and founder of analytical psychology, connected synchronicities to the bigger world: the collective unconscious. These were not just assumptions on his part. Jung believed the collective unconscious was universal (meaning common to all people) because he listened and researched for decades the overlapping stories and myths that people shared […]

The Emotions of Spouse Loss

Posted on November 25, 2024 - by Beverly Chantalle McManus

The Emotions of Spouse Loss My entry into widowhood began in 2002 when our family was enjoying a long-awaited summer vacation in Hawaii and my husband Steve noticed he was having trouble swallowing. It wasn’t just that it was hard to swallow, but it actually hurt. He promised to get it checked out when we returned home. But neither of us expected the first two words that came out of the doctor’s mouth when he returned for his lab results: “It’s cancer.” What? How could this be? Just a few weeks earlier Steve had been surfing, snorkeling, hiking all over […]

Managing Holiday Grief

Posted on November 24, 2024 - by Sarah Kravits

Managing Holiday Grief It was Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the first Thanksgiving without my brother, just months after a drunk driver had ended his life. I needed to get some shopping done and I found myself at a mall. The instant I stepped inside, I was enveloped in holiday atmosphere. Everything shone and glittered, music rang out, scents of pine and cinnamon candles mingled with the smell of perfumes being sprayed on shoppers in the department stores. Delight hung in the air. But I was feeling holiday grief. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I couldn’t […]

Yes, I’m Still Grieving

Posted on November 22, 2024 - by Sarah Kravits

Yes, I’m Still Grieving If you or someone you care about has ever suffered a painful loss, you’ve likely heard, communicated, or thought something like the following: That earnest wish that a person could “move on” or “get over” the intensity of grief. The well-meaning concern that someone is “dwelling on,” “wallowing in,” or “stuck in” grief. That kind directive to “focus on the positive” or work to get one’s “life back.” We often feel it, deeply, when friends or family members are grieving. Perhaps we experience their hurt empathically, or maybe we sense its weight because we wish for […]

Grief Tips from an Ayurveda Practitioner

Posted on November 19, 2024 - by Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley

In a recent episode of Open to Hope Conversations, Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley welcomed Dr. Shweta Vikram, an international speaker, best-selling author, and Ayurvedic practitioner. Dr. Vikram shared valuable insights on coping with grief and loss, drawing from her personal experiences and professional expertise. A Journey Through Loss Dr. Vikram’s connection to grief and loss runs deep. Her early experiences with the loss of her grandfather and aunt shaped her understanding of grief. Later, she faced the profound loss of both her father and father-in-law within two days of each other, which became the inspiration for her […]

After a Stillbirth, Another Pregnancy

Posted on November 14, 2024 - by Aura Rose

After a Stillbirth In the months following the stillbirth, a lot of emotions resurfaced, and I did not have the support I needed to embrace them. Some people were afraid to see me fall apart, or of saying the wrong thing to me. For others, it was just too hard. So many things made what I had gone through taboo. It made the sharing of it all the more difficult. There were many layers to that pain. To live it is already traumatic. It’s all the more challenging later on when you wonder if it really happened. I felt like […]

Death of a Sister: ‘Part of My Soul Has Left Me’

Posted on November 13, 2024 - by Evan Rieger

Death of a Sister I walk to your grave alone, in the cold demise of Fall. It seems so much colder here without the comfort of knowing that you will be here to protect me in this life as you have so well. The sky is white and endless. The sun has been cloaked by the cryptic fog. The leafless trees sway back and forth with the algid wind. The ground is damp and dreary. The world never seemed to be such a strong representation of death before you left me here, all alone. Oh, my elder sister, why have […]

Even the Smallest Life Matters

Posted on November 11, 2024 - by Aura Rose

Even the Smallest Life Matters The life of your child matters. Your experience of holding them whether in your womb or in your arms matters. All life matters. No matter how fleeting or small—whether it was that magical moment of conception where you felt that swell of hope for new life, or that moment when you sensed the fluttering of butterfly wings in your belly as the song of a new heartbeat joined in the song of creation, or you birthed into this world the perfectly formed vessel that housed a precious spirit, that life mattered. That soul has a […]