Creative Healing

October 22nd, 2014
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Photo By Patti Raab Blue Grotto Isle of Capri

Photo By Patti Raab
Blue Grotto Isle of Capri

I find the word healing to be a comforting word.  You know how there are some words that when you say them or read them they just make you feel better, more peaceful?  Well, that’s the way that I feel about the word healing.

When I think about healing, I feel as though I have softly placed a cozy blanket around myself.  Protected.  I could be with someone I care about or I could be by myself.  But when I think about coming to a place of healing I think about … Read More

Holiday Party Questions

November 20th, 2013
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Hi there!! It’s me again and I am back today with what I hope is timely information to help you deal with the topsy turvy happenings of the holiday season. You will, and probably already have, received invitations to holiday parties and you may or may not be looking forward to going.  If you have recently lost a loved one I am very sorry that this personal tragedy is happening to you.  Socializing while in the throes of grief can be a bit of a high wire act. I say it’s a delicate balance because you don’t want to isolate… Read More

Tweeting A Mother’s Life

August 12th, 2013
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Over 340 million tweets are sent and read each day. In the midst of all those competing thoughts, messages and trending topics, Scott Simon posted a large number of tweets late last month that broke through the rush of chatter and caught the attention of  a large part of Twitter’s world wide audience. Simon, National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Saturday host, was sitting beside his mother’s hospital bed and relaying intimate, tender and immediate thoughts about his precious time with his mother in the last days of her life.   I can’t imagine having the clarity of mind to tweet… Read More

Bananarama

July 12th, 2013
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I left a couple of bananas on my kitchen counter the other day and the current heat and humidity in Washington, DC ripened them so fast that in two days they were too mushy for my cereal.  I’m not one to throw food away, so I found my trusty banana bread recipe and baked them into golden goodness! This banana bread recipe below is from Martha Stewart’s best-selling book, Entertaining, and I highly recommend making it and having it on hand for a quick breakfast.  I once tried the recipe as muffins and they were okay but the recipe is… Read More

KissyFace

June 21st, 2013
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The picture posted on the Facebook page shows a CD leaning against a car dashboard with the following handwritten message written with a Sharpie:  “To KissyFace – From Your Number #1 Fan.” On a different Facebook page, a male friend enthusiastically writes about a recent Washington Nationals baseball game, what the score was and the important plays of the game.  He then ends his post by saying how much he misses his friend.  On the same page, a different friend posts a story that was in that day’s newspaper and says, “I know you would like this story.  It’s your… Read More

Shrinks Redefine Grief

May 20th, 2013
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Grief is the normal, natural response to the death of someone you care about. Grief happens because you connect with another human being through love. But if it’s up to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), people who experience the fundemental yet normal process of grief could be routinely diagnosed right away as in a major depression and then prescribed anti-depressants before they have even had a chance to try and work through their feelings of loss on their own. That’s because the APA is changing the definition of certain behaviors such as grief, hoarding and binge eating, among others, in… Read More

Public Tears

March 21st, 2013
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I’ve done it in the grocery store in the applesauce aisle.  I’ve also done it while walking down 17th Street, NW and on the Metro platform at Farragut North. What have I done? Crying in public.  And you know what? When I was doing it, I could have cared less about who I ran into or what I looked like.  I was in the throes of grief and I had either heard a song that reminded me of my husband or was coming from a situation where no one acknowledged my loss or what was happening to me. When I… Read More

A New Day; A New Way

February 19th, 2013
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They say that sharing is caring and I care so much about my readers that when I read the below post yesterday from the Bereaved Partners Support Group (@BereavedPartner on Twitter), I couldn’t wait to share it with you. So many things in this article resonated with me: especially the idea of stepping into your fears and working through them to find something new in your changed life. Healing and recovery happen.  It may not feel as though this natural process is happening to you but it is.  You must believe in a new way of life and even a… Read More

Healing Therapy

February 1st, 2013
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Drawing By NYC Multiple Medium Artist Joe Mangrum One of my sisters has a shoulder that is frozen and she is going to a physical therapist who helps her work through the incredibly stiff shoulder muscles and joint.  If the physical therapy doesn’t work, then she may have to have surgery and she really doesn’t want that to happen. The other day we were talking about her physical therapy and she was telling me about how the therapist told her that to really get the exercises to unlock the muscles and joint that she would need to take the current… Read More