Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a retired Life Coach, Counsellor & an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon. Ellen is currently working on a book about her partner’s illnesses, his transition & the myriad contact they have had since Don left this planet.

Articles:

Retraining Our Brains Through Grief

Retraining Our Brains Through Grief “During periods of grief the human brain undergoes a process known as neuroplasticity, in which the brain rewires itself in response to emotional trauma.” ~ Widows Empowerment Trust Moving one block away from our home has been surprisingly disorienting for me. Although I can walk the same routes on the streets I’ve walked on for 30+ years, the neighbourhood seems different. Across the road from Marina Place is the beautiful forest trail of living breathing trees as well as the fallen nurse tree skeletons. I go there daily, it’s short but healing, bringing me out […]

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Dreams Can Help the Grieving Process

Dreams Can Help the Grieving Process I began preparing myself for my mother’s death a long time ago, even before she came to live in our community so that we could support her. Occasional dreams appeared in which I or we (my partner and daughter) had to save Mom; in those dreams, she was called “Little Mommy.” Often, water would be involved. Perhaps she would fall off a dock, and we would pull her out of the water. The dreams became even more prophetic before our last trip to India in the fall of 2009, when I dreamed that she […]

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Open to  hope

A Fresh Loss, New Lessons

“There are no random acts…We are all connected…You can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind…” – Mitch Albom It’s true…I feel it, you feel it…we are all connected. As human beings, we feel each other’s pain. Because of this we are able to pull together when necessary, when someone is ill or dying, to show our caring. We can do this in many ways, by sitting with the person, checking in with them by telephone, or by doing the practical things, the small “labors of love” like cooking and laundry. […]

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Open to  hope

Leaving a Place, Experiencing a Loss

Grief is multifaceted, and I’ve realised over the years that our society does not acknowledge many of its aspects. Along with profound grief the death of a loved one brings us, we all experience many other types of losses as we go through life. There are small and not so small daily losses. Perhaps our injured knee backtracks after we’ve worked for months to strengthen it; maybe we’ve had intimate relationships end badly; maybe we’re living one lifestyle but longing for another. We may not even realise that these are losses, or we may choose not to acknowledge them. In a […]

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Open to  hope

Taking ‘Turtle Steps’ in the Journey Through Grief

During the 1970s, a number of my close family members died over six summers. The last of them was my two-day-old baby. It was a long time ago, but it’s been the hardest thing life has ever dealt me. I believe that this loss allowed me to develop true empathy for others. The loss I’m now experiencing has come in stages, as my elderly mother deteriorates slowly from Alzheimer’s disease. Each year she seems to go to a new stage, plateauing there for quite a while, eventually shifting mentally and physically into a different phase. Then we have to learn […]

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Open to  hope

Grief and Self Care

Note: Often we encourage you to “be gentle” with yourselves when you are grieving. In the whirlwind of emotions we are experiencing on the grief path, we sometimes just can’t fathom what that means to us. Ellen Besso has given us some clear guidlines on how we can take care of ourselves?during this harsh journey.?Drs. […]

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