Working Through Grief

Hard Days Kind Actions

October 7th, 2016
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hug-card

I was having one of those days recently when I was doing my best to think positively but it didn’t seem to be working out.

My thoughts felt powerless as things disintegrated around me.  Stuck in traffic.  Rescheduled deadlines. Unscheduled meetings.  Extra phone calls to untangle things that had been screwed up.  No matter how hard I tried to stay calm and focused on turning things around, I couldn’t change it.

While the meltdown continued to happen throughout my day, I tried to figure out how things started to go south.  I was trying to see in my mind’s eye … Read More

Awesome Life Stories

September 8th, 2016
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Learning to Surf The Waves of Life Each of us has a story to tell about how our particular and significant lives have developed and unfolded over the years and it can be surprising how others decide to reveal pieces of these awesome life stories to us. The more I listen to people of all ages and cultures, the more I realize that we all have something in our lives that at some point has taken the wind out of us and made us question how we can continue on. Sometimes people tell you about their difficult circumstances over a… Read More

Princess Diana — 19 Years

August 31st, 2016
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Revealing your unfiltered feelings and becoming vulnerable to another person is not something anyone does easily, particularly when you are brokenhearted and trying to talk about the loss of a treasured loved one. I bring up the subject of talking about the loss of a loved one for today is the 19th anniversary of the tragic death of Princess Diana, one of the most iconic women of our time and one of her beloved sons, Prince William, who is now a parent himself, recently had a tender conversation with a young boy who had recently experienced the loss of his… Read More

In The Moment

August 29th, 2016
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  Hey there my Resilient Friends! This summer I have been sensing a theme among good solid friends I see a lot and great friends I see occasionally: change is in the air. When we get to a certain place in our lives, we mentally hold pictures of how we think life is going to play itself out.  But life has its’ own idea of what should happen and when we see that our lives aren’t following the groove we had hoped for, we are left with the expectations of what is no longer to be.  I have noticed that… Read More

Memoir: When Breath Becomes Air

August 15th, 2016
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Dr. Lucy Kalanithi and Dr. Paul Kalanithi with their daughter, Elizabeth Acadia.  Photo Courtesy of Lucy Kalanithi   When friends find something special, they want to share it with others. I recently found a book that is beyond special and today my friends, I would like to share it with you. “When Breath Becomes Air” is a beautiful and touching book about giving yourself up to the unexpected joys of life but also fighting with every ounce of energy that you have within your being when you find your ability to experience those simple and spectacular moments in life is… Read More

Holiday Triggers

July 4th, 2016
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  The Fourth of July and other long holiday weekends which happen during these spectacular summer months are truly the best for unwinding from the stresses of our daily go-go routines. More time is spent outdoors relaxing and doing the things that we all look forward to: gardening, swimming, walking, grilling and just chillin’ and loungin’ in our favorite space. But those activities can also serve as a difficult reminder that a loved one is no longer with us and while I hope that those reminders don’t stop you from going ahead and doing what you planned, those wistful thoughts… Read More

Rewriting Your Script

June 27th, 2016
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On a morning walk in my neighborhood yesterday, I came upon a middle-aged man standing inside a huge moving van parked on the street.  He was calmly talking to a woman who was leaning against a car and she appeared to live across the street from him. Just two neighbors catching up or perhaps saying good-bye?  Either way, as I slipped by the moving van, their words helped me realize that change is not just a constant in my life but it’s also a constant for others too and how we learn to deal with those changes can take us… Read More

Daddy’s Home

June 19th, 2016
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You learn a lot about how to navigate the ups and downs of life by watching your parents. I know I did. The people in charge of raising us, for better or worse, are the people who have the first opportunity at influencing us.  Even when we begin to think we have life figured out for ourselves, we may still think back to something that one of our parents did or said and think to ourselves, “I wonder how they did that?”  “I wonder how they knew that?”  Or  perhaps your parents weren’t so wonderful and you might be thinking, … Read More

5 On Friday

April 8th, 2016
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  What a freakin’ roller coaster of a week! Since I feel a bit spun around by the events of the last few days, it’s difficult today to put my thoughts into a few simple declarative sentences. Instead I found this dreamy picture. I really wish I were sitting in this car right now, smelling the fresh salt air and letting the warm ocean breeze play through my hair knowing that I could open the door, run to the beach and go swimming. But since I’m not really sitting in this car, I can do the next best thing:  imagine… Read More