Category: grief

Becoming Resilient in the Face of Grief

Two months earlier, Mita’s partner had died suddenly. “I hate this. I hate it so much. When will it get better?” she asked. Her plea carried the familiar chest-crushing tune of grief. As a widow of three years, I knew too well that the truth would seem incongruous if not insulting. So all I said…


Grief and Love: How to Cope When You Know a Loved One Is Going to Die

Recently, a dear friend whose husband had died a few months prior said she had difficulty attending church because at some point during the service, her tears would overflow. She and her husband had always attended church together, and she was finding the sadness of sitting alone to be overwhelming. Her grief was completely understandable;…


Abnormal Behavior or Mental Illness? Context Is Everything

Commentary In the first scene of “Hitchcock Loves Bikinis,” a young mum is happily playing with her baby. Next comes a close-up shot of Alfred Hitchcock, the late movie director, smiling. Clearly, he is a man whose heart is warmed by this sweet glimpse of maternal love. In the next scene, we see a bikini-clad…


Thanksgiving With the Isacs: Turning Grief Into a Celebration of Gratitude

For the past 19 years, the Isacs family has hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their home in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. Each year, anywhere from 8 to 20 extended family and friends swelled the ranks of the family of four: Peter and Nadine, the consummate host and hostess, and their sons PK, 27, and Christopher,…


The Tragedy and Liberation of Death

Recently my brother was hit by an unimaginable tragedy: he lost his 3-month-old baby, Tyler. I’m still in shock and heartbreak. My heart is broken for him, for all of our family, and for this terrible loss. I didn’t know Tyler, but as I begin to process this loss, I start to feel the loss…


Perspective on Death Is a Good Thing to Gain

If you’ve ever suffered the throes of grief, the idea of anything good coming from death seems cruel. Entertaining the idea feels impossible. That’s normal. It takes time and distance to get a broader, more accurate perspective. It’s worth the trouble to gain it because getting a fresh perspective on this loss can help you…


Losing a Loved One to a Violent Death

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning on September 11th, 2001. I was making rounds in the hospital greeting a couple of patients with a smile, as I knew they were well enough to go home that day. Others were holding steady but not quite ready to return home for their recovery. In another section, patients…


4 Ways to Help Employees With Their Mental Health and Emotional Needs as You Reopen Offices

By Liz Eddy Call it the new normal. Or the next normal. Or even a return to 2019. Just don’t assume that workers will compartmentalize and minimize their experiences from the past year. Employees might be coming back to work, but they’re not the same as they were before the pandemic. They’re returning to their workstations with…


Saving Newborns in His Wife’s Memory

Nick Silverio and his wife Gloria were married for 32 years, and they were always told that they would be wonderful parents. Gloria was the sweetest soul, Silverio said, loving and kind to everyone, especially the children and the elderly. The couple had no children of their own—there were two miscarriages, including one on Christmas…


Burnt Roses: Facing Loss and Grief

Grief comes boxed in many different packages. The death of a loved one, a routine visit to the doctor that reveals a fatal disease, the end of a marriage, a heart broken by betrayal, a young person caught up in drugs and sentenced to prison, the untimely death of a pet, bankruptcy, a job lost…