Mourning Loss

When the Bough Breaks presents a breakthrough concept of mourning, documenting the process of evolution from initial grief to an altered outlook on life. Excerpts from interviews with fifty parents who lost a child from age five to forty-five trace the road from utter devastation to a revised view of life, resulting in a work that is a tribute to resilience and the indomitable human spirit.

"Life changes fast....You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year's Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years.

A few years ago, Kris Carr’s world was falling apart. Her father was dying, she had to pivot her business because of the pandemic, and she was on the verge of reaching her twenty-year milestone of living with an incurable Stage IV cancer diagnosis. While sitting in a CVS parking lot, she broke down, finally allowing herself to feel the massive stress and sadness she had been suppressing in order to seem strong for those around her, and for herself. And then she asked herself, “If embracing my intense emotions helped me feel even the slightest bit better, why was I so determined to avoid them?"

In 1980, I produced the film Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer. In 1998, I produced What Dreams May Come with Robin Williams, Annabella Sciorra, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. On January 3, 2018, my wife and forever love Lauren suddenly passed away in her sleep. She was only 54. Six weeks later, Lauren began to communicate with me…and in October 2018, we started writing this book together. Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, and many others have experienced communication with loved ones who preceded them beyond the veil ...

Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.

Before May 31, 2008, September Vaudrey's life was beautiful. But on that day, with one phone call from the ER, her whole world - everything she knew and believed - was shaken to the core. Katie, her 19-year-old artist daughter, had been in a car accident and would not survive. How does a family live in the wake of devastating tragedy? When darkness colors every moment, is it possible to find light? Can God still be good, even after goodbye?

When we are grieving the death of someone loved, we may struggle with making it through each day. How are we supposed to cope with our gut-wrenching grief and live our daily lives at the same time? What should we do with our chaotic, painful, and intrusive thoughts and feelings? How do we survive? And is it possible to both grieve and live with meaning and hope? If you've been asking yourself such questions, this book by one of the world's most beloved grief counselors provides affirmation and answers.

Theresa Caputo, TLC’s Long Island Medium and the three-time New York Times best-selling author, teaches us how to ritualize and recover from the daily losses in our lives.

As his mother was dying, Philip Kennicott began to listen to the music of Bach obsessively. It was the only music that didn't seem trivial or irrelevant, and it enabled him to both experience her death and remove himself from it. He spent the next five years trying to learn one of the composer's greatest keyboard masterpieces, the Goldberg Variations. In Counterpoint, he recounts his efforts to rise to the challenge, and to fight through his grief by coming to terms with his memories of a difficult, complicated childhood.

Feeling like grief’s got you in a chokehold, and not in a cool, action-hero kind of way? Wonder if screaming into your pillow at 3 AM is a hobby you should list on your dating profile? Grief Sucks; But Your Life Doesn't Have To is here to throw you a lifeline and maybe even a few laughs along the way. Brooke Carlock gets it. She's been through the grief grinder, having lost her dad, mom, stepmom, and ten-year-old daughter in a span of a year and a half. This book isn’t your typical “let’s hold hands and cry it out” guide.

Explaining the important difference between grief and mourning, this book explores every mourner's need to acknowledge death and embrace the pain of loss. Also explored are the many factors that make each person's grief unique and the many normal thoughts and feelings mourners might have. Questions of spirituality and religion are addressed as well.

A “conspiracy of improbabilities” was how Deepak Chopra described the tragic events that took the life of Joshua Rothstein in 2002 when he was struck by a car at just fifteen-and-a-half years old. That conspiracy would thrust Nancy, her husband, and their two daughters into a profound state of grief sparked by Josh’s sudden death. Yet with pure grace, the wall of death was shattered for Nancy, and she stepped back into life.

If you've lost a spouse, child, family member, or friend, you've discovered that few people understand the deep hurt you feel. Through a Season of Grief is the first 365-day devotional designed to support and uplift you in the first, most difficult year of bereavement. These devotions offer biblical comfort and practical teaching that will enable you to take steps forward each day toward healing. You will better understand the grieving process and will receive needed encouragement along the way.

In times of suffering, simple answers often ring empty and hollow - so how can you find hope in hard times? Learn how to survive the difficult seasons with the comfort and of God's constancy. With sensitive, practical advice, Henri Nouwen gently points you toward a life that is grounded in God’s companionship and rooted within eternal hope. In this newly formatted edition, Turn My Mourning into Dancing discusses five movements we experience during hard times.

2019 Illumination Book Awards Bronze Medal Winner. In this small but powerful book, spiritual director Larry Warner thoughtfully and sacrificially opens his soul, gently bringing the reader along on a journey through grief. His story is unique to him, but many of the emotions he suffered and the insights he gained are universal. This book is divided into two sections: a helpful comfort for the grieving, and a guide for those who choose to travel with them. Part One is an explicit, honest description of the abyss that is grief. This section helps to normalize the unprecedented and ...

Mourning: The Day After Loss offers practical advice and insight into the process of coping with grief and bereavement based on extensive experience and research. It leads the listener on a journey through the various stages of bereavement - from the death notification to the formal days of mourning, the burial, and the weeks and months following.

On the morning of May 11, 2015, Erin Davis, one of Canada’s most beloved radio personalities, suffered a devastating blow when her daughter, Lauren, who had marked a joyous Mother’s Day with her husband and young son only hours before, failed to awaken to her baby’s cries. Thus began Erin’s journey of grieving out loud with her family, friends, and listeners and of demonstrating by example how to pick up and keep going after suffering the worst loss a parent can endure.

If you know someone who is experiencing deep loss tethered to nightmarish lunacy escorting inconsolable pain. And you're trying to understand what he or she is going through or why he or she doesn't seem to be able to be consoled. Or maybe you, yourself, are one who is experiencing this horror. The Ripple Maker's prose is much like that of "A Pilgrim's Progress." While there is no easy way to gain this insight, The Ripple Maker does offer understanding. This book was written by a man during the first few weeks after losing his son horrifically and suddenly. Being his son's father was the ...

Der Verlust des letzten älteren Familienmitgliedes ist besonders hart. Es ist dann so, als ob keiner mehr da ist, der Schutz und Rückendeckung geben kann. Nach dem Tod der Eltern bleiben Schmerz, Trauer und Ängste, aber auch die Chance, zu größerer Freiheit zu finden und individuelle Lebenskonzepte stärker in den Vordergrund zu rücken. Dieser einfühlsame Ratgeber bietet Ihnen Hilfestellung auf Ihrem Weg.

Recognizing how the need to grieve is anchored in one’s capacity to care for someone, this calming guide contends that the act of mourning is healthy - and necessary - following a life-changing loss. The very foundation of attachment is reflected upon, illustrating devotion as both the primary cause of grief and a crucial source of emotional recovery. Exploring the essential principles of love as well as the reasons behind it, this heartfelt handbook makes it possible to embrace a trying but vital process.