Something to Think About

Thanksgiving! A day of gratitude for a year of blessings. For many it is a challenge to find blessings in this chaotic world. For those living with a life-threatening illness, caring for...

I think a big part of grieving is loneliness. Loneliness for our person who has left us but also aloneness in our day to day activities...

We used to have grandma’s body “laid out” in the parlor and family and friends came to our home with support and food. Grandma died in the home and we...

What do I, the sufferer, want from you then, if “how are you?” doesn’t work?

It is a challenging part of life, both emotionally and physically, to figure out how to live productively when this person is no longer with us...

It has been almost six months since my husband of 62 years died. As an end of life educator I have taught about loss and grief, and even wrote a booklet about it. BUT...

This is another aspect of grief I didn’t know until now that I am living it. Who am I if I am only one? What have I wanted to do...

I’ve noticed people are hesitant to talk about the person that died or use their name...

support people who are dyingBeing involved with end of life care is not something most people want to do, so what brings you? 

Now I have to learn how to be a widow. How to create a new life, a new way of being. I am truly alone. 

Death has touched us all, some more recently than others.  Grief has no actual timeline, no end point where we are suddenly “fine”.  Each of us responds to our loss...

Grief is like an open wound. When we healthcare workers experience a personal loss, every patient scrapes open our own wound of personal grief.  

Funerals are for the living. They are to bring comfort. Recognizing the life lived by the person that died is comfort to the living...

We in health care, enter a family's life at a challenging, sad and fearful time. It is our acts of thoughtfulness that will be remembered and provide comfort.

We tend to play the “elephant in the room” game at the mention of our missing loved one. “If we don’t talk about how sad we are feeling we won’t...

This is where bereavement support groups come in. Support groups are for anyone experiencing a death. The groups are not for just those people having challenges in dealing with their...

From what you have told me I believe your mother's death was no one's fault, certainly not yours. Her body, after all the years of illness, couldn't continue and she...

Part of the specialness of doing your own service/celebration of his life is the planning. The gathering of those who loved him gathered together deciding how to celebrate his love and life...

Part of grieving is how you channel the feelings. Channel your anger, your disdain into how well you live your life now. Let your life experience be the learning tool...

Unfortunately, children die. We are born, we experience, and then we die. That's the name of this game called life...

First we have to recognize that to some degree we are all grieving this season. Then we make a conscious decision to lift the heavy veil and peek beyond it, let a...