Is it? Ask a griever in the pain of missing a loved one any day of the year whether it truly is better to have loved and lost. Some may say that the pain they experience is too overwhelming that it makes them wish they never loved in the first place.
Tag Archives: love
Meditation Monday: The Hole of Love
We often think of love as something that fulfills us. We love friends, we love family, we love children, we love significant others, we love ourselves. We can even love inanimate objects or experiences. Whatever it is that we love, we assume that love will give us warmth and support for the rest of ourContinue reading “Meditation Monday: The Hole of Love”
Monday Meditation: To Love, Listen
Grief is a response to love lost and grief is the expression of deep love itself. As such, grievers must honor the love within grief, and listen to what it shares about their life, their memories, and their future.
Monday Meditation: Season with Joy
Holidays may be an awkward time for grievers. First holidays, especially, can be tough. There is no etiquette for how to handle the first year of special events without a loved one. Do we relish in memories of past holidays? Do we share memories with others? Will memories bring sadness? If I am happy, amContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Season with Joy”
Monday Meditation: The High Road
One of the unexpected challenges of grieving (for me at least) was dealing with grief supporters who, instead of supporting my path, used their time to put down my choices and my grieving process. I tried to take the high road–but I didn’t always succeed. Exhaustion, the need to be understood, and shear shock gotContinue reading “Monday Meditation: The High Road”
Monday Meditation: Survival Requires Love
When we think about what humans need to survive, we often reduce the list to the basic essentials: food, clothing, shelter, and water. Perhaps we can add an income with which to pay for these basics. What gets omitted is interesting: love and compassion.
Monday Meditation: The Virtue of Compassion
Monday Meditation: Cherished Time
The Trouble with Coronavirus: How COVID-19 is Challenging American Acceptance of Death
Like many people, I am interested in information about COVID-19. I read news and journal articles about the pandemic and the scientific communities prescribed methods of handling it. I follow the debates about masks and the realness of the disease. I watch people flood beaches and vacation as though the virus isn’t spreading. I listenContinue reading “The Trouble with Coronavirus: How COVID-19 is Challenging American Acceptance of Death”
Monday Meditation: Chose Peace of Mind
For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Grief can bring all sorts of anger: at friends and family, at yourself, at your lost loved one, at no one in particular. While anger is part of the grief process, anger can also become an obstacleContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Chose Peace of Mind”
Happy 71st!
Today is my mother’s 71st birthday. My mother’s birthday meant a great deal to her. Given her birthday’s proximity to July 4, her birthday became intertwined with the holiday festivities. My mother told me that, as a child, she believed Independence Day celebrations, the cookouts, and fireworks, were all for her birthday. “Yes,” she onceContinue reading “Happy 71st!”
Monday Meditation: Friends + Love
The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love. -Hubert H. Humphrey Never underestimate how wonderful a good friendship can be during grief. The person who lets you vent because you just have to get things out, or who laughs at the absurd things you find in your lost one’s belongings, or who just shares allContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Friends + Love”
Monday Meditation: Move through Struggle
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. -Napoleon Hill Grief is a constant struggle with emotions, life circumstances, unhelpful Grief Supporters, difficult family members, and missing the loved one. The effort required to slog your way through this period is enormous. Along the way, you will uncover strength you were unaware ofContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Move through Struggle”
Monday Meditation: Forgive for the Future
When you forgive, you in no way change the past—but you sure do change the future. -Bernard Meltzer The grief period is fraught with tension, Grief Supporters behave badly, Grievers hold anger, very few people understand what Grievers are dealing with in their daily lives, etc. To come out of this experience as a strongerContinue reading “Monday Meditation: Forgive for the Future”
Monday Motivation: The Line of Life and Death
Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides. -Lao Tzu As a society, we seem to treat death as something outside the norm, something unexpected, something bad. Birth and Death are bookends to Life. While death may surprise us, when it comes early or unexpectedly, death itself is something ofContinue reading “Monday Motivation: The Line of Life and Death”
A.N.Carroll 