Working Through Grief

Help! I Can’t Find The Right Card

December 7th, 2015
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Greeting-Cards

This has happened to me at least a million times and I bet this has happened to you too!

You find yourself in the card section of CVS or your local card store and you’ve been standing there for about 10 to 15 minutes scanning the cards, taking them out one by one, reading them and then quickly rejecting them and putting them back.

Totally Dissatisfied.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

When that happens, here’s what I’m usually thinking: I so liked the picture or drawing on that particular card and it was so so close to what I was looking for … Read More

The Ever Expanding Thanksgiving Table

November 23rd, 2015
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For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving in our family is about reaching out and sharing. During our childhood, my parents always reminded the six of us that we could invite anyone that we knew who might not have a place to go and might possibly be spending Thanksgiving alone. And they meant it. The Cranston Thanksgiving table always had room for more people.  For friends who couldn’t make it home to their families, for people who had no where else to go and for elderly relatives who had paid their dues in preparing Thanksgivings past and now needed… Read More

A Monday Affirmation

November 16th, 2015
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  I find myself this Monday morning saying HELLO and embracing a calming thought that I intend to use to set the tone of my day. At the beginning of a new week, and especially in light of the tragic terrorist events in Paris, I find this to be healing. Perhaps you need a small break from world news or something else happening in your personal life. Let your mind momentarily take a break: It was the   outstretched   hands, the   giving, that   mattered.         ~ Annie Proulx… Read More

Accepting Vulnerability

November 12th, 2015
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  Tommy At The Beach My heart is in a vulnerable place today for as much as I try every day to go forward and rebuild my life, the 12th of November always pulls me back to the morning of when my beloved husband Tommy died.  I have found there is really no way to prepare for this anniversary.  The ying and yang of the day can make me momentarily feel as though it just happened but then in the next moment it can make me feel that it has been more than 12 years since his tragic death. Little… Read More

A Renewing Morning Intention

November 2nd, 2015
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Every day I choose to begin the day with a healing intention. I promise it doesn’t take much time. Often before we even open our eyes after a night’s sleep, our minds are taking in conflicting thoughts. Maybe we have an early morning appointment.  Maybe we don’t feel well.  Maybe we need to get the kids off to school.  Maybe we need to get to work.  Maybe we have all of these things going on and the morning has already slipped into an crazy example of life in the fast lane. Instead of trying to keep up with the snowballing… Read More

Grief And Honest Conversations

October 23rd, 2015
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Just as we all grieve differently, we all heal differently. Healing is a personal search for hope; a trial and error process of looking for a new purpose; a way to feel a little more centered again as you try to make sense of what life is about for you and perhaps your children after a loved one’s death. I think it took me about eight to ten months after my husband’s death to realize that I couldn’t figure it all out on my own and I had to find help. Unfortunately, as much as family and friends try to… Read More

J.K. Rowling: On Failure

October 19th, 2015
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The renowned British author, J. K. Rowling When life is zipping along and everything seems to be working as if it were a lean mean beautiful machine of happy events, it’s difficult to imagine that it won’t always continue that way. And for you it is my fondest wish that happy events constantly fill your life. And I do mean constantly! But sometimes the plan of life changes and tragically, marriages fail, jobs are lost and loved ones lose their battles with illness.  It feels as though everything is in a painful disarray and everything seems complicated; making no sense … Read More

The Martian and Grief

October 12th, 2015
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Actor Matt Damon Plays An Astronaut In the newly released movie, The Martian My 25-year-old son went to see the new Matt Damon movie, The Martian, the other night and he was telling me that he enjoyed it a lot because it made him think about his deceased father. The Martian is a new movie about an astronaut who is mistakenly left on Mars, presumed to be dead after a fierce storm.  It’s a warm science fiction, adventure techie kind of movie that pokes fun at the geekier side of life. My son’s Dad was an award-winning journalist who covered… Read More

Constructive Living

September 28th, 2015
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So I find myself in an emotional place where I constantly feed my soul and busy brain with positive thoughts about life and the people that I care about. I also am working on centering myself through mediation and am learning the value of breathing. And I pray all the time: in the morning when I wake up, in the car, at work, at the grocery store and before I fall asleep. Yet several frustrating situations in my personal life continue to happen. Over and over again.  Even when I try to take regular breaks from the stress of them.… Read More