Meditation – Terry Lang “‘Grief is praise for what you have lost.’” “These are the words of Martin Prechtel, a Guatemalan shaman. In his village, as in many indigenous cultures, community grief rituals are common. “I will describe for you a grieving ritual of the Dagara people in West Africa as depicted in Malidoma Some’s […]

Expressive arts can be a great way to explore your inner world of thoughts and feelings. Some people like to draw, paint, use clay, sing, or write music. The important thing is to use rituals that are meaningful to you. Find what your passions, talents and likes are and use them to your advantage in […]

Have you heard the phrase, “With faith, you don’t need to grieve.” Having your personal faith does not insulate you from needing to talk out and explore your thoughts and feelings. To deny your grief is to invite problems to build up inside you. Express your faith, but express your grief as well. Melanie Hack […]

After a parent dies it’s common to think about why someone lived…and why s/he died…and to wonder what gives life meaning—to question your belief system. (It’s OK if you don’t find definitive answers though, because what’s more important is that you allow yourself the opportunity to think and feel things through.) It’s natural to search […]

Here’s a myth you may have heard expressed in the following ways: “Everyone dies, and people who have lived a long, full life are expected to die. You’re a grown–up. You shouldn’t be so upset when your parent dies because you knew it was coming.” Or, “Be glad he lived a long, full life.” And […]

When my sister and I were shopping last month we came across a fantastic gift idea at a store called Celestial Awakening…2-inch tear bottles of clear or colored glass encased with metalwork and finished in gold, nickel, pewter, antique copper, silver, or brass and with matching display trays or metal/mirrored trays…tear bottles inside mini domes…and […]

The instant you are notified of a homicidal death of a loved one, you are set off from the world as you’ve know it. You feel isolated. And because society often places some of the blame on the victim and attaches stigma to the death, you can also feel as though no one understands the […]

A mother sits at the window, sipping tea, and contemplating her younger daughter’s upcoming birthday near the beginning of April. Springtime—a time of renewal, a time of perennial rebirth. She knows this should be a joyous time. But instead there is a pang of fear in this mother’s heart. All too soon…at the end of […]

When you were first told that your loved one was dead, among your first reactions were probably shock, numbness and denial. You didn’t want it to be true. Maybe you instinctively knew that to overcome the effects of grief you needed to accept the reality of the situation and experience whatever pain came up. So […]

My apologies if the graphic material in this Blog post offends, but many people have shared what they thought were strange reactions…and they wanted to know if they were “normal” or if they were “losing it”. First off, there is nothing weird about the way people grieve—there is nothing shameful about what survivors of suicide […]