Understanding and Managing Grief, October 22 - October 28, 2023

Best selections from Grief Healing's X feed this week:

After-death communications (ADCs) occur in people of all faiths, as well as agnostics and atheists. ADC experiences often leave a sense of comfort and healing in the wake of grief. Even as religious affiliation is on the decline, ADCs and belief in the afterlife seem to be increasing. After-Death Communication Experiences May Promote Healing « Psychology Today

Voices of Experience: Caregiver Recovery versus Bereavement

Nancy with her husband Larry 

It is not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.  ~ Lena Horne, singer

By Nancy Hardaway

In the introduction to her website The Artful Caregiver, blogger Nancy Hardaway acknowledges that ~ after years of caring for her widowed mother, then her widowed sister and finally her husband ~ it was only in retrospect that she identified herself as a caregiver. Through her blog, she decided to share her caregiving journey "in the hopes that someone can be helped by what they read - that some benefit can come from all that we experience." Two months ago, Nancy's beloved husband Larry succumbed to the rare neurodegenerative disease that finally claimed his life. Now in the aftermath of devastating loss, Nancy continues sharing her hard-won "wisdom, woes, triumphs and tips," offering her insights as she transitions from life as a caregiver into that of a bereaved spouse.

In Grief: Difficulty Making Decisions

[Reviewed and updated January 11, 2024]

He who rides the middle of the road gets hit from both ends.  ~ Loni Bergqvist

A reader writes: I have been browsing the Articles Worth Reading section of your Tools for Healing forum. I was wondering if there is an article or book that you can suggest for me about decision making and grief. I'm in the second year and I feel I'm making all the wrong decisions regarding my life, like job searching, where to live, how to spend money. Or I find that I'm unable to decide at all.

Surviving Spousal Loss: Financial Concerns in Widowhood, Part 2

[Reviewed and updated May 13. 2026]

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.  ~ Benjamin Franklin

In an earlier post a recently widowed woman described her difficulty in deciding how best to take the benefits from her husband's life insurance policy. For surviving spouses with other financial concerns, I’d like to offer some additional information.