Grief can be a unique and isolating journey but I believe we can leave talismans for each other and gifts of healing along the way.
Photograph taken in Avignon, France 2013
This is a resource and permanent “home” or hub you can return to when you're grieving or know someone who is experiencing grief.
Grief comes in many forms and isn’t always a physical death or loss.
Please share the tools, practices, and rituals that have offered you comfort through loss (of any sort) in the comments below. It can be a quote, poem, image, experience, podcast, newsletter, movie, song, etc.
If you’re feeling brave, share your own story. You never know who needs to hear it or the healing power of telling it. Please be mindful of creating a compassionate and gentle space in your sharing.
Here are some resources I’ve personally used or had others recommend to get us started.
Apps
GriefWorks- “Learn how to manage your most painful emotions – from anxiety, to guilt, to anger. Develop everyday routines which ground and soothe you. Discover how to have honest, helpful conversations about death to get the support you need” by Julia Samuel, recommended by Victoria Chin at Carer Mentor.
Books
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise by Martin Pretchel A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (shared by
This playlist has seen me through many moments of crying in the car and is one I still listen to often.
Podcasts
Terrible, thanks for asking- “a show that makes space for how it really feels to go through the hard things in life, and a community of people who get it.”
Good Mourning - “a top podcast, global online community, book and grief education platform transforming the face of grief support, one honest conversation at a time.”
Bloom is a series of poems I began writing after my Dad died unexpectedly from a heart attack and I unexpectedly became pregnant for the first time in the same year.
“Grief is love's souvenir. It's our proof that we once loved. Grief is the receipt we wave in the air that says to the world: Look! Love was once mine. I love well. Here is my proof that I paid the price.”
―Glennon Doyle Melton
“Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”
“Each person’s grief is as unique as their fingerprint. But what everyone has in common is that no matter how they grieve, they share a need for their grief to be witnessed. That doesn’t mean needing someone to try to lessen it or reframe it for them. The need is for someone to be fully present to the magnitude of their loss without trying to point out the silver lining.”
—David Kessler
Other
Grief Share- This was a virtual therapy group and course my mom, sister, and I attended together. It’s based on the Christian faith and may not be for everyone. I’m not Christian but we had such an amazing facilitator that I received a lot of benefit from his compassionate witnessing. It’s also free.
This list isn’t meant to be comprehensive. Rather, it’s an invitation to conversation and the creation of a community space where we can acknowledge the presence of grief in our lives.
Has anyone else experienced the overflow of creativity that can happen, paradoxically during a season of grief? It seems like Brené might be going through this now and I'm curious if or how you've experienced this?
I just saw this update from Brené Brown on LinkedIn about losing her mom and creating a space for "hard seasons and wild hearts."
https://brenebrown.com/articles/2024/01/24/hard-seasons-and-wild-hearts/
Has anyone else experienced the overflow of creativity that can happen, paradoxically during a season of grief? It seems like Brené might be going through this now and I'm curious if or how you've experienced this?
Support groups for parents who have lost a child. https://rtzhope.org/story