Relationship Loss Grief

You know how devastating it is to lose a loved one. Coping with bereavement is a painful and bumpy journey with many twists and turns. It helps to have an outline or rough roadmap along this painful and bumpy journey, with a few short stories sprinkled in just to illustrate certain points. Give yourself time; handling and overcoming bereavement is all part of the journey.

Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most. Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart, and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves.

The modern healthcare system has become proficient at staving off death with aggressive interventions. And yet, eventually everyone dies - and although most Americans say they would prefer to die peacefully at home, more than half of all deaths take place in hospitals or health care facilities. At the End of Life tackles this conundrum head on. Featuring 22 compelling personal-medical narratives, the collection explores death, dying, and palliative care, and highlights current features, flaws, and advances in the healthcare system.

Life is characterized by gain and loss. While managing success and the emotions that come with gain presents its own unique problems, it is undoubtedly the pain and grief that are part and parcel of loss that affect us the most. The loss of a parent can be one of the most difficult grieving periods in anyone’s life. It will always hurt to lose a loved one, but there are ways to make it through.

Based on O’Connor’s own trailblazing neuroimaging work, research in the field, and her real-life stories, The Grieving Brain combines storytelling, accessible science, and practical knowledge that will help us better understand what happens when we grieve and how to navigate loss with more ease and grace.

What if we didn’t consider death the worst possible outcome? What if we discussed it honestly, embraced hospice care, and prepared for the end of our lives with hope and acceptance? In this compassionate and knowledgeable guide, TikTok star Julie McFadden—known online as “Hospice Nurse Julie”—shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as an RN in the ICU and in hospice.

We all sit on the edge of a mystery. We have only known this life, so dying scares us - and we are all dying. But what if dying were perfectly safe? What if you could approach dying with curiosity and love? What if dying were the ultimate spiritual practice? Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying reunites lifelong friends Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush, who speak on the spiritual opportunities in the dying process. They share intimate personal experiences and timeless practices for every aspect of this journey.

At 74, Yalom has penned a book that is the climax of his lifework, focusing on the universal human issues of mortality and death. He suggests that what he calls the "awakening experience" can help us acknowledge, accept, and utilize our fear of death in a very positive manner. Such an awakening experience can be as simple as a dream, or quick as a sudden insight. It is often a loss, a trauma, or just plain aging that can prompt an awakening experience that is a turning point for a more meaningful life.

Based partly on the author's experience, partly on her in-depth interviews, and partly on a questionnaire she developed with psychologist Holly Barrett to which almost 600 women responded, Father Loss provides the clearest portrait yet of a very special group of women. As a group, they express their insecurities ("Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to love a man totally...because that would mean I didn't love my father anymore." - Leslie).

After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. "I was in 'the void,'" she writes, "a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe." Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build.

On May 13, 1995, God called Zig Ziglar's oldest daughter, Suzan, home after a prolonged illness. Journeying through his own grief, Ziglar realized many things about himself, his family, his priorities, and God. In this comforting book, he uses his experience to encourage listeners to deal with the reality of loss and learn to take up the threads of life again as they find consolation and inspiration in the giver of all peace.

Modern medical technology is allowing us to live longer and fuller lives than ever before. But with changes in the way we understand medicine come changes in the way we understand death. Once a familiar and gentle process, death has come to be something from which we shy away, preferring to fight it desperately than to accept its inevitability. Palliative care has a long tradition in Britain, where Dr. Kathryn Mannix has practiced it for 30 years. In this book, she shares beautifully crafted stories from a lifetime of caring for the dying.

A friendly and accessible book of 75 lists that will help anyone experiencing a change or loss—for fans of Maggie Smith, Cheryl Strayed, and Katherine May—from the creators of the popular What's Your Grief website and community.

Finding Comfort is a book about easing grief and trauma after unimaginable horrors - mass shootings, catastrophic natural disasters, and terrorist acts. Through personal recollections of responding to tragedy, combined with a practical application, Earl Johnson offers listeners the tools they need to seek support and offer it to those in need. The book walks through the life cycle of disaster care from the first hours and days to the years that follow.

Involuntarily single. That's the true story of where Catherine Tidd finds herself just three weeks after turning 31. Widowed with three children under six years old, a rusty resume, no fix-it skills, and no clue how to live life as a widow, Catherine can't help but be a little exasperated with her dead husband for leaving her to deal with life on her own. Catherine's now in charge of her life in a way she never wanted to be, in a way that would have most of us reeling and numb. But she soon realizes that when you call the shots, you can make pedicures one of the stages of grief....

In this compassionate, insightful guide into the often-misunderstood realm of the spirit world, you will gain a deeper understanding of the afterlife and tools for connecting with angels, spirit guides, and souls on the other side. Susan Grau shares her spiritual journey—including her decades of experiences as a Soul Healer and certified counselor, struggles with loss, and personal trauma—as an inspirational roadmap for those seeking enlightenment and healing.

In Bring the Joy, Jessica Janzen shares her experience in following those nudges of her heart to find true and lasting joy. From the bliss of her dramatic, romantic saga with her now husband, to the trials and triumph of her career journey as a young women, to the devastating loss of her son when he was only six months old, Jessica's commitment to follow the nudges of her heart have seen her through every season.

"Our biggest fear," says poet and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, "is that we will become nothing when we die. If we think that we cease to exist when we die, we have not looked very deeply at ourselves." It is possible to live every day without being afraid of what happens when we die. Through a close examination of who we are, how we exist, and how we live, we can conquer our fear to live a freer and happier life. Through stories and lucid teachings, Thich Naht Hanh brings peace of mind to a difficult subject, and shows is how to live a happier life, free of fear.

After author Jess Keefe ended things with her long-term boyfriend, she moved in with her brother in hopes that family could help her not only heal from the break-up but also evolve into a healthy adult. But that fantasy ended when Matt’s heroin addiction came roaring back after lying dormant for years, leading to a fatal overdose one October night. Thirty-Thousand Steps is a powerful and transformative memoir that interweaves the author’s obsessive training to becoming a distance runner, along with her focused research into the science of addiction in the shadow of grief.

Christians today are often not prepared to suffer well and have a short-sighted view of pain and trials. Ken Boa shows how God uses suffering to shape his children for eternity and to grow them in Christlike character. The book of 1 Peter tells us suffering is both a guarantee and comparatively brief; we shouldn't be surprised when it comes to us. The nature of our affliction is not as important as our response to it. God is at work through our hardships and wants to use them to prepare us for eternal life. Suffering can make us bitter or better. Rediscover living hope, present joy, and a glorious future.