The Modern Loss Handbook

Inspired by the website that the New York Times hailed as "redefining mourning," this book is a fresh and irreverent examination into navigating grief and resilience in the age of social media, offering comfort and community for coping with the mess of loss through candid original essays from a variety of voices, accompanied by gorgeous two-color illustrations and wry infographics. At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it’s clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let’s face it: most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We’re awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit. Enter Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, who can help us do better. Each having lost parents as young adults, they co-founded Modern Loss, responding to a need to change the dialogue around the messy experience of grief. Now, in this wise and often funny book, they offer the insights of the Modern Loss community to help us cry, laugh, grieve, identify, and—above all—empathize. Soffer and Birkner, along with forty guest contributors including Lucy Kalanithi, singer Amanda Palmer, and CNN’s Brian Stelter, reveal their own stories on a wide range of topics including triggers, sex, secrets, and inheritance. Accompanied by beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and witty "how to" cartoons, each contribution provides a unique perspective on loss as well as a remarkable life-affirming message. Brutally honest and inspiring, Modern Loss invites us to talk intimately and humorously about grief, helping us confront the humanity (and mortality) we all share. Beginners welcome.

“Poignant, funny, and able to provide exercises that help you maneuver the rough . . . if I were going through something, this is the book I want to read.” —Gayle King Stay connected to your person, yourself, and the world around you in the aftermath of loss. Modern Loss is all about eradicating the stigma and awkwardness around grief while also focusing on our capacity for resilience and finding meaning. In this interactive guide, Modern Loss cofounder Rebecca Soffer offers candid, practical, and witty advice for confronting a future without your person, honoring their memory, dealing with trigger days, managing your professional life, and navigating new and existing relationships. You’ll find no worn-out platitudes or empty assurances here. With prompts, creative projects, innovative rituals, therapeutic-based exercises, and more, this is the place to explore the messy, long arc of loss on your own timeline—and without judgment.

Subject: When a loved one dies, the pain of loss can feel unbearable, especially in the case of a traumatizing death that leaves us shouting, 'NO!' with every fiber of our body. The process of grieving can feel wild and nonlinear and often lasts for much longer than other people, the nonbereaved, tell us it should. This book is a companion for life and most difficult times, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection, compassion, and the very essence of our shared humanity. The author, who is also a bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field accompanies the reader along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities, as well as her own experience with loss, the author opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief

A groundbreaking book exploring the little-known yet critical connections between anxiety and grief, with practical strategies for healing that follow the renowned Kübler-Ross stages model. If you're suffering form anxiety but not sure why, or if you're struggling with loss and looking for solace, Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief offers help -- and answers. Significant loss and unresolved grief are primary underpinnings of anxiety, something that grief expert Claire Bidwell Smith discovered in her own life and in her practice with her therapy clients. Now, using research and real life stories, Smith breaks down the physiology of anxiety, giving you a concrete foundation of understanding in order to help you heal. Starting with the basics of What Is Anxiety? and What Is Grief? and moving to concrete approaches such as Making Amends, Taking Charge, and Retraining Your Brain, Anxiety takes a big step beyond Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's widely accepted five stages to unpack everything from our age-old fears about mortality to the bare vulnerability a loss can make us feel. With concrete tools and coping strategies for panic attacks, getting a handle on anxious thoughts, and more, Smith bridges these two emotions in a way that is deeply empathetic and eminently practical.

Living Life While Navigating the Death of a Loved One If you recently lost a loved one, How to Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies is the lifeline you are seeking. Dr. Therese Rando’s compassionate and comprehensive guide will help you navigate the storm and find your way back to solid ground. Whether dealing with sudden loss or mourning a long-anticipated passing, this book acknowledges that each person’s journey through grief is unique. It equips its readers with the tools to understand and address their grief, communicate with children about death, attend to any unfinished business, and find support and other resources to help them move forward with their lives. Dr. Rando emphasizes the importance of self-care and encourages the acceptance of appropriate help and support from others. She provides practical strategies for managing grief during difficult times like the holidays, for planning funerals, and for creating meaningful personal rituals. First published in the late 1980s, Dr. Rando’s book is an enduring guide to the emotional, practical, and spiritual aspects of loss. With decades of clinical experience and international acclaim, she is a leading expert on the grieving process. While this guide is intended for people who have lost a loved one, it is also a resource for carers, or anyone else, who wish to support someone navigating the path of bereavement. In the face of loss, this book is not just about surviving, but about living—truly and fully.

A trusted grief expert shares what Kirkus Reviews praises as "calm, lucid prose... [a] humanizing exploration of coping with the life-changing tides of loss." In Grief is Love, author Marisa Renee Lee reveals that healing does not mean moving on after losing a loved one--healing means learning to acknowledge and create space for your grief. It is about learning to love the one you lost with the same depth, passion, joy, and commitment you did when they were alive, perhaps even more. She guides you through the pain of grief--whether you've lost the person recently or long ago--and shows you what it looks like to honor your loss on your unique terms, and debunks the idea of a grief stages or timelines. Grief is Love is about making space for the transformation that a significant loss requires. In beautiful, compassionate prose, Lee elegantly offers wisdom about what it means to authentically and defiantly claim space for grief's complicated feelings and emotions. And Lee is no stranger to grief herself, she shares her journey after losing her mother, a pregnancy, and, most recently, a cousin to the COVID-19 pandemic. These losses transformed her life and led her to question what grief really is and what healing actually looks like. In this book, she also explores the unique impact of grief on Black people and reveals the key factors that proper healing requires: permission, care, feeling, grace and more. The transformation we each undergo after loss is the indelible imprint of the people we love on our lives, which is the true definition of legacy. At its core, Grief is Love explores what comes after death, and shows us that if we are able to own and honor what we've lost, we can experience a beautiful and joyful life in the midst of grief.

Spanish translation of our immensely popular Life After Loss, a practical and effective grief-recovery guide Ningun sufrimiento es tan grande como el de la perdida de un ser querido. Cuando la muerte o un divorcio indeseado nos sumen en la desesperacion, solo una fuerza de voluntad enorme puede sacarnos del oscuro abismo de la soledad. La agonia espiritual y el quebranto del alma amenazan con derrumbar todo a nuestro alrededor, pero si comprendemos nuestros sentimientos y sabemos controlarlos entonces viviremos tranquilos. Libro para lectura y, ante todo, comportamiento, Vivir despues de la perdida ensena, compasiva y solidariamente, como controlar su pesar y disfrutar la vida de nuevo, sin sentir desesperacion o remordimientos que abran las puertas a la enfermedad. En estas calidas paginas usted encontrara como Lograr un buen sueno, sin pesadilla o insomnio Ayudarse a llorar, a desahogar el alma Despedirse serenamente de una parte querida de su vida Pedir y aceptar ayuda de los demas Saber manejar el olvido Nadie es inmune a la perdida. Todos, en alguna etapa de nuestra vida, sentimos el dolor de quedarnos sin una persona verdaderamente querida. Sin embargo, debemos sobreponernos para conservar la salud y vivir nuevamenta con plenitud y la felicidad puede surgir, tambien, de dulces recuerdos.

The founders of the Modern Loss website draw on personal experience and the insights of their numerous followers to share irreverent counsel on how to navigate grief and establish resilience in the age of social media.