Caregiving, Grief & Pet Loss, May 10 - May 16, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Many people falsely think that we get over grief, we recover from grief, we recover from a loss. The reality is [that] we learn to live with it. And we're learning to live with this. Now, what is important for us to understand is: there is no night that hasn't given way to a new day; there is no storm that didn't pass. This will pass, this will end someday.  David Kessler on learning to live with grief in a "grief-illiterate" culture « KCRW

Pet Loss: When Social Support Is Lacking

[Reviewed and updated January 15, 2023]

We don't heal in isolation, but in community. ~ S. Kelley Harrell

A reader writes:  As one who loves my companion animal and thinks of him as a family member, I am especially interested in the issue of moral/social support. If my husband were to be diagnosed with leukemia, I would be flooded with cards, flowers, and casseroles from family and friends. But if my cat is diagnosed with feline leukemia, it would hardly register a blip on the consciousness of even my closest friends and family members.

Caregiving & Grief, May 3 - May 9, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Optimal strategies for helping people develop new rituals to remember those who die during the COVID-19 era: Death, Grief and Funerals in the COVID Age « COVID White Paper

In the midst of a global pandemic, this day might actually feel a bit more aligned with what I want it to be. A Widowed Mother's Day à la COVID-19 « Modern Loss

In Grief: Young Widow Seeks Support

[Reviewed and updated July 7, 2022]

I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with you ~ and then I realized that you spent the rest of your life with me. ~ Pinterest

A reader writes: Thanks for your advice that you have given to so many of us. I lost my husband 2 months ago. I am 26. He was 24. We were married for only 8 months before this tragedy struck. He and a friend died in a hiking accident. I went through what NO ONE should ever have to go through, unfortunately, all too many individuals suffer similar experiences. My heart aches for my friend and for my beloved husband most of all.

Understanding & Managing Grief, April 26 - May 2, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

With so many deaths around us from COVID-19 and the deaths that would occur even without the pandemic, how are these sorrows mourned? Is grief itself changed because of what is going on now? What a Pandemic Does to Grief « PsychCentral

MNHPC is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to offer a Grief Support Specialist Certificate course, offered virtually this June. UW-Madison Grief Certificate « MNHPC

Disenfranchised Grief: Coronavirus Took My Partner

[Reviewed and updated May 19, 2020]

My grief lies all within, and these external manners of lament are merely shadows to the unseen grief that swells with silence in the tortured soul.   ~ William Shakespeare

A reader writes: You have so many articles on grief but I was unable to find an article that can help me. I’ve recently lost my partner of 4 years who passed a week ago. We were not married and I lived with him and was his primary caregiver. During his last month of life we were apart due to Covid19 and I didn’t get to see him. He was ill but death was not imminent so this has come as quite a shock.

Understanding & Managing Grief, April 19 - April 25, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Honored that Grief Healing is named Best Monitored Discussion Group: "They report that their discussion groups are closely monitored and moderated by the owner to ensure quality, safety, and security." The 7 Best Online Grief Support Groups of 2020 « VeryWellMind

The world is grieving an astonishing amount of loss, and most of us are doing it alone. Losing Touch - Struggling with Grief in the Era of Social Distancing « SevenPonds Blog

In Grief: Dreading The Second Anniversary of A Child’s Death

When fear makes your choices for you, no security measures on earth will keep the things you dread from finding you. But if you can avoid avoidance - if you can choose to embrace experiences out of passion, enthusiasm, and a readiness to feel whatever arises - then nothing, nothing in all this dangerous world, can keep you from being safe.  ~ Martha Beck

A reader writes: I've written to you before, but now the countdown has begun.  In two more weeks it will have been two years since my son lost his life in a horrible accident. I have been waking in these early hours with nightmares -- my son is all broken and I cannot fix him -- my throat is dry from screaming and the sweat is cold -- I am not sure I can keep doing this anymore. I have so many crazy thoughts of jumping on a train track and seeing how long it takes for me to die.

Caregiving, Hospice & Grief, April 12 - April 18, 2020

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

There is a lot of loss involved in what we're living right now. How do we cope? Find out in this video: Grieving the Loss of Daily Life Routine and Milestones During the Pandemic « Refuge In Grief

It’s a staggering thought, but right this moment, there are 5.8 million Americans living with dementia . . . There is help — resources and education that are breaking down the stigma surrounding dementia. Caregivers can live well with dementia, too! « Your Valley

Voices of Experience: Death Is But A Dream

But at the time of transition, your guides, your guardian angels, people whom you have loved and who have passed on before you, will be there to help you. We have verified this beyond a shadow of a doubt, and I say this as a scientist. There will always be someone to help you with this transition.
~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

In his extraordinary and beautiful book, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life’s End, hospice physician Christopher Kerr, MD, PhD shares his patients' stories and his own research pointing to death as not purely the end of life, but as a final chapter of humanity and transcendence. Drawing on interviews with over 1,400 patients and more than a decade of quantified data, Dr. Kerr reveals why pre-death dreams and visions are remarkable events that bring comfort and exemplify human resilience. Different from regular dreams and described as "more real than real," they frequently include loved ones long gone and mark the transition from distress to acceptance.