LOST and FOUND
Lighting the way to help you find renewal from personal loss
Lighting the way to help you find renewal from personal loss
DO YOU NEED A HELPING HAND
ON YOUR
GRIEF JOURNEY?
ON YOUR
GRIEF JOURNEY?
If so, you have come to the right place for both practical and spiritual support from a widow who has taken her own grief journey.
If you have lost a loved one, you are about to, or have already started to, take a journey that will make you examine your very existence. It is hard for a person who has never lost a mate, or another loved one, to understand the depth to which your soul may sink. It is as if a part of you has been ripped away and kind and well-meaning words, thoughts and deeds will not help to lessen its intensity.
In fact, you may even shun them, for you want to feel the searing pain in your heart -- just so you know you can feel SOMETHING! What is hard to realize at the inception of your loss is that this will be a defining moment in your life. You will either DECIDE to just SURVIVE by going through the motions of life without the emotions, OR you will DECIDE to THRIVE.
It is easy to cope when life is going smoothly,
but as Martin Luther King, Jr. said:
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in
moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands
at times of challenge and controversy."
THE DECISION IS YOURS. You can make a conscious decision to move forward through your grief journey in order to find a place of peace, acceptance, and personal renewal, or you can decide to stay stuck in sadness forever.
Please do not misinterpret my words. You should allow yourself to grieve for all that you have lost, including future joys that your loved one will be missing. However, over time you must learn to put your grief in perspective and let it work for you, rather than be its slave. It is not possible to go back in time before your loss. Your ultimate power lies in how you respond to the new circumstances of your life.
Love and Grief are two very potent emotions. They both have the ability to change a person's life forever. Due to your loss, you most probably have a renewed love and appreciation of your friends and family. I would like to suggest you build upon this foundation of rekindled awareness, and try to make each day going forward meaningful and full of love.
I have made my own grief journey and wish to offer you the benefit of my experiences, as well as my support. I believe when one is in need of support, he or she should take all that is offered -- even to the point of being greedy about it! Of course, when the crisis has passed and a person has started healing, I feel it is the moral obligation of that person to turn around and offer his or her hand to next person starting a similar journey. This is exactly what I am offering to you.
A Practical Guide to Widow/erhood was born from my personal experiences as a widow. It started out as a newsletter for widows and widowers and grew into a book. Read in totality, it addresses all the subjects I needed to figure out when my late husband passed away suddenly. Please go to the Meet the Author page for more information.
The book can lead you through the maze of the grief journey towards love and understanding with topics such as:
*How to Know When It Is Time To Put Away Your Wedding Rings
*How to Deal With Anniversary Dates and Other Holidays
*How To Reinvent Yourself: Finding the New You
*Tips For Coping
*The Author's Take On "Why Bad Things Happen To Good People"
*Conquering Finances and Investing For The Future
*Book Reviews
*Time Management
*Readjusting the Picture of Your Late Spouse
*What To Do With a Loved One's Clothes
*Job Hunting Tips and How To Write a Resume
*Personal Stories of Widows and Widowers
*Practical Matters: Quick & Easy Recipes For
One Person Doing The Job of Two
I learned how to be a "thriver" instead of a "survivor" and would like to help you to do the same.
When my late husband died, it wasn't only me that had to grieve, I also was left with two young boys to raise on my own. In helping them to cope with their great loss, I learned that children grieve differently than adults.
*What is going to happen now that a loved one has died?
*How will things change?
*What type of feelings will be experienced?
*Is there a right way or a wrong way to feel?
*How can I help myself feel better?
*Will I ever feel "okay" again?
Let's Get A Grip on Grief (for ages 5-8) is written as an interactive coloring book, which has at least one area that still needs to be colored in on each page. This allows enough time to be spent on each page, so there is time to discuss any questions or address any fears. See a sample page here.
Let's Get A Grasp on Grief (for age 9-12+) is for an older child who can "grasp" more of the complexities of grief. See an excerpt here.
Love and Grief are two very potent emotions. They both have the ability to change a person's life forever. Due to your loss, you most probably have a renewed love and appreciation of your friends and family. I would like to suggest you build upon this foundation of rekindled awareness, and try to make each day going forward meaningful and full of love.
I have made my own grief journey and wish to offer you the benefit of my experiences, as well as my support. I believe when one is in need of support, he or she should take all that is offered -- even to the point of being greedy about it! Of course, when the crisis has passed and a person has started healing, I feel it is the moral obligation of that person to turn around and offer his or her hand to next person starting a similar journey. This is exactly what I am offering to you.
A Practical Guide to Widow/erhood was born from my personal experiences as a widow. It started out as a newsletter for widows and widowers and grew into a book. Read in totality, it addresses all the subjects I needed to figure out when my late husband passed away suddenly. Please go to the Meet the Author page for more information.
The book can lead you through the maze of the grief journey towards love and understanding with topics such as:
*How to Know When It Is Time To Put Away Your Wedding Rings
*How to Deal With Anniversary Dates and Other Holidays
*How To Reinvent Yourself: Finding the New You
*Tips For Coping
*The Author's Take On "Why Bad Things Happen To Good People"
*Conquering Finances and Investing For The Future
*Book Reviews
*Time Management
*Readjusting the Picture of Your Late Spouse
*What To Do With a Loved One's Clothes
*Job Hunting Tips and How To Write a Resume
*Personal Stories of Widows and Widowers
*Practical Matters: Quick & Easy Recipes For
One Person Doing The Job of Two
I learned how to be a "thriver" instead of a "survivor" and would like to help you to do the same.
To read an excerpt from A Practical Guide to Widow/erhood go here.
When my late husband died, it wasn't only me that had to grieve, I also was left with two young boys to raise on my own. In helping them to cope with their great loss, I learned that children grieve differently than adults.
Death is one of the hardest subjects to broach with
children, and most adults find themselves at a loss for words when
confronted with this task.
Instead of trying to explain death, I decided to write two books -- one for a younger age group (5-8) and one for an older child (9-12+) to describe what may happen after a death has taken place. Each book addresses all the confusing emotions that make up grief and attempts to answer questions such as:
Instead of trying to explain death, I decided to write two books -- one for a younger age group (5-8) and one for an older child (9-12+) to describe what may happen after a death has taken place. Each book addresses all the confusing emotions that make up grief and attempts to answer questions such as:
*What is going to happen now that a loved one has died?
*How will things change?
*What type of feelings will be experienced?
*Is there a right way or a wrong way to feel?
*How can I help myself feel better?
*Will I ever feel "okay" again?
Let's Get A Grip on Grief (for ages 5-8) is written as an interactive coloring book, which has at least one area that still needs to be colored in on each page. This allows enough time to be spent on each page, so there is time to discuss any questions or address any fears. See a sample page here.
Let's Get A Grasp on Grief (for age 9-12+) is for an older child who can "grasp" more of the complexities of grief. See an excerpt here.
So grab hold of my hand, and let me lend you my support born from experience. And when you find yourself further down the road, perhaps you will be in a position to do the same for another. Just imagine if everyone put out his or her hand
to help the next person starting on this journey,
then the whole world could eventually be holding hands.
Wouldn't that be a beautiful place in which to live!
