(An update of an older post) The shops are full of it, the TV schedules already have those corny Christmas films, the pubs are offering festive meals, and we are well advanced into the countdown of shopping days. But quietly, on the pages of forums and support groups, and even more in silent, unseen corners, there are…
I’ve had this delicate ornament for at least 24 years – I can’t recall exactly. Amazingly, the tiny decorative sticks of clove still have a scent, although obviously not as fresh as they were. This small item was a gift from a friend, a colleague, actually my work supervisor from long ago. I probably wouldn’t…
(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…
A bit of news from our Living with Loss project. Events With our next retreat at Lee Abbey just around the corner – and fully booked, I believe – I thought it would be worthwhile to mention the next 3 retreats, which are: 18-20 January 2019 – “Christians Bereaved by Suicide” weekend retreat at the…
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…
