Grieving Days Healing Days

The preface to this manual reads, "A career in death and dying chooses you. You do not choose it.... It has been my perspective, and privileged view, to observe one marvelous point. If one wishes to understand the meaning of life, it will most assuredly be found in the words off the lips of those who are about to leave life".The author's fifteen years of experience working as a psychotherapist with AIDS patients and ten semesters teaching death and dying have culminated in this comprehensive, thoughtful, humanistic manual that is destined to become an invaluable resource book. The book's 130+ exercises and activities explore the emotional, social, and legal aspects of death, including euthanasia, wills, caregiving, stress, the death penalty, and death-related rituals. No book does more to humanize the experiences of death and grieving and promote a more healthy and well-informed response to the many ways in which death enters our lives.

After a loved one dies, each day can be a struggle. But each day, you can also find comfort and understanding in this daily companion. With one brief entry for every day of the calendar year, this little book by beloved grief counselor Dr. Alan Wolfelt offers small, one-day-at-a-time doses of guidance and healing. Each entry includes an inspiring or soothing quote followed by a short discussion of the day's theme. This compassionate gem of a book will accompany you.

When we are grieving the death of someone loved, we may struggle with making it through each day. How are we supposed to cope with our gut-wrenching grief and live our daily lives at the same time? What should we do with our chaotic, painful, and intrusive thoughts and feelings? How do we survive? And is it possible to both grieve and live with meaning and hope? If you’ve been asking yourself such questions, this book by one of the world’s most beloved grief counselors provides affirmation and answers. Rituals give us something to do with our grief. Simple, everyday practices can give structure to our grief and hold us up us when we’re feeling like we might collapse. In fact, when we’re in grief, rituals are essentially effective beelines to healing. Learn what makes a ritual a ritual. (Spoiler alert: Rituals can be easy and fast!) Try some of the many solo rituals gathered here, such as letter writing, meditating, intentional emoting, grief walks, and the 10-minute grief encounter. And reach out to friends and loved ones who might like to get together for one of the simple group ceremonies. By incorporating the healing power of ritual into your days, you’ll be not only surviving your grief, you’ll be building in meaning and hope so that you can go on to thrive.

For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, here are strength and thoughtful words to inspire and comfort.

Grief Day by Day offers supportive readings and exercises to help you move through life after loss, one day at a time. Grief is complex. It is ever changing and may come to us differently on any given day. Grief Day by Day offers reflections and practices that address the day-to-day feelings that accompany the ever changing process of grief. In Grief Day by Day, Jan Warner draws on her own extensive experience and the experiences of the 2 million followers on her Grief Speaks Out Facebook page to offer hope in its most practical form. This book does not look to offer a solution to grief. Rather, it provides supportive, useful guidance to help you create a life in which peace, and even gratitude, can coexist with your grief. Inside the pages of Grief Day by Day you'll find: 365 Daily Reflections that include quotes, meditations, and other musings on grief Weekly Themes that capture common feelings and experiences such as: Loneliness, Things Left Unsaid, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Guilt, and Intimacy 52 Healing Exercises that help you process your feelings at the end of each week and develop skills for coping with grief as it arises There is no "right way" to grieve, and there is no right way to use this book. Whether you follow it page by page, or select that which seems most relevant to you at the moment, how you use this book is less important than why you are using it. You're using this book because you have chosen to honor your experience, to make a home for your grief, and to find a new way of living on the bridge between loss and life.

Helping widows and widowers learn how to cope with the grief of losing their helpmate, their lover, and perhaps their financial provider, this guide shows them how to find continued meaning in life when doing so seems difficult. Bereaved spouses will find advice on when and how to dispose of their mate's belongings, dealing with their children, and redefining their role with friends and family. Suggestions are provided for elderly mourners, young widows and widowers, unmarried lovers, and same-sex partners. The information and comfort offered apply to individuals whose spouse died recently or long ago.

"Dr. LaGrand's advice and recommendations reach from and to both heart and head ... a powerful and important lesson about grief that even in grief, we can still grow." Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, senior consultant, Hospice Foundation of America Through Your Loss Comes The Strength to Grow Whether the death of a loved one is sudden or follows a long battle with illness, there is no way to prepare for the loss of someone close. Grieving is painful, but you have a choice in how you cope with grief and most importantly how you adapt to the intense loss you've experienced. Grief counseling expert Dr. Louis LaGrand describes 101 tips and prescriptions to help mourners through their tragic loss. His specific coping strategies offer practical advice, ultimately giving you pathways for achieving lasting inner peace by using the one thing you can control your own response to grief. Heal your inner grief and find peace by: *Starting each day with an affirmative action *Establishing a grief or worry time *Planning in advance for birthdays, anniversaries, and important holidays *Learning to enjoy new routines *Letting go of "if onlys" and "what ifs" *Never ruling out happiness