(This post describes my Christian outlook. A lot of people who read this blog don’t particularly identify as Christians, so I like to give a little notice if a post is going to have Christian content. This one does.) The book I wrote, “A Valley Journal,” and the Living with Loss retreats are not overly…
Grief doesn’t follow neat chronological stages. It’s not a clear-cut path. It’s not a case of improving and improving until you’re healed – because grief is natural and normal, not a sickness for which a remedy needs to be found. We don’t get “fixed” but we learn to live with it. People ask, “how long…
It’s coming up to November 2nd – All Soul’s Day – a day when many of us will visit loved one’s graves to remember them, although in some traditions this might have taken place on October 31st. (“All Hallow’s Eve”, more commonly referred to as Halloween.) As Wikipedia helpfully explains, “All Souls’ Day commemorates All Souls, the Holy…
The other day a link to this article came on my Twitter feed, “For the brokenhearted grief can lead to death” An interesting study on the impact of grief on levels of inflammation, concluding: … grief — regardless of people’s levels of depressive symptoms — can promote inflammation, which in turn can cause negative health…
(A short post with lots of pictures) It’s a lovely time of year to walk here in the UK, with the changing colours of the season and still some warm days. I am fortunate to live at the edge of a city with countryside at my doorstep, and in half an hour I can be…
When I first lost Catherine I was out of my mind with grief. I searched desperately for anything that would get me through the hours, days, weeks. Quite quickly I discovered The Compassionate Friends and I signed up to their online forum. It was the first time that I had participated in a forum, and…
A post about judgemental attitudes towards our loved one, particularly when their life choices did not match expectations or wishes. Criticism could come from outside – from other people – or from within ourselves. Managing our grief in this situation can be complex. I recently participated in a very useful conference organised by Bereaved Parents…
