Additional reading: I offer a brief overview of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s work in a companion article: “5 Stages of Grief: Are They Real?” I hope you will consider reading it as well, as it pays homage to the great pioneer who started the very important conversation about dying people and the importance of compassionate care
Though it has been almost five years, I remember clearly the moment my father’s spirit slipped from this physical plane into the great unknown. Even though he had been ill for some time, until that moment I had denied the fact that his death was on the horizon because I knew—in the darkest places of
Years before I even thought about writing Mindfulness & Grief, I wondered… can meditation help with grief? After all, meditation has been helping people liberate themselves from suffering for thousands of years, thanks to the Buddha and other spiritual teachers. It helps calm anxiety, release tension in the body, and helps you feel more capable
People learn to meditate for many reasons: to calm anxiety, ease stress, be more productive at work, or less agitated at home. It can take some effort to establish a daily meditation practice, but the payoff is priceless. On good days, a regular meditation practice can help you savor all that life has to offer.
“In Asian languages, the word for mind and the word for heart are same. So if you’re not hearing mindfulness in some deep way as heartfulness, you’re not really understanding it. Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into it. You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.” Jon Kabat-Zinn, Time Magazine Mindfulness And
Grief and addiction have a very complex relationship, and quite often the two are very closely intertwined. For people suffering from grief, substance abuse becomes a way of numbing the pain. For someone already suffering from substance abuse disorder, grief can actually be a wakeup call of sorts. Nobody seeks to experience grief or wishes
Self-compassion as self-care for grief is the practice of making skillful choices that will reduce suffering and improve the quality of your life. It goes beyond creating healthy habits, such as exercise, a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and getting the right amount of sleep – though these can all help with grief.Self-compassion as
Finding a Place of Comfort to Grieve This article explores the use of dramatherapy practice and mindfulness for the grief process. What is Dramatherapy? I will use Dr. Sue Jennings’ definition for the purpose of this article. Dr. Jennings has defined Dramatherapy as “the specific application of theatre structures and drama processes with a declared
Cope with Hope: Dealing with Depression after a Loss by David Garcia Coping with loss can be difficult. There is a natural process we undertake while grieving, but sometimes those feelings can become overwhelming, and can eventually take over your other senses needed to function in everyday life. Understanding and analyzing your symptoms and thoughts