Many of us are experiencing our own personal grief over the death of a loved one, along with the collective grief during the pandemic. In my private counseling practice, I have heard many clients say, “I don’t know who I am anymore.” The world is less predictable, less “normal,” to us. We find ourselves reacting…
Holidays can be especially difficult while mourning the loss of a significant person in your life, and we may feel shut down. When that happens, it sometimes helps us to think about what choices we do have about the holidays. Bruce Conley created a helpful handout called “Holiday Planner.” He encourages us to think about…
People often ask us “What are you doing for the holidays?” When we’re mourning the loss of our loved one to death, the question often feels like a stab in the heart. It can become painful to answer. Either we avoid answering the question because we wonder if we’ll even be able to survive Thanksgiving,…
“Death rituals such as funerals not only help you truly acknowledge a death and express your necessary feelings, but they also bring friends and family together to support one another” (Wolfelt, TAPS Magazine, Fall 2020). In addition to funerals, other rituals can help us as well: lighting candles, planting a tree, launching balloons, a memorial…
When I think of the many feelings associated with grief, I picture a rubber band ball. It is as if, at any given time, you could pull on one of the rubber bands to represent “mad.” A few minutes later, you could pull on another rubber band to represent “glad.” Yet a few more minutes,…