I write to think about questions that are preoccupying me. In my novel Landslide, I consider how resilience arises out of catastrophic loss. When I started the novel, my mother and three close friends had died. My husband had battled cancer. I had gone through unexplained, early menopause which also felt like sorrow and loss.
Major Griffith, USMC, was killed in action on December 14, 2011 by an enemy Taliban sniper. Sam was a beloved Marine Corps Officer who embodied perseverance and grit. His death greatly impacted the lives of all that knew and loved him and changed the course of Renee’s life forever. When Sam died, I realized I
Guilt and grief form a ubiquitous pair. We can find countless ways to blame ourselves. For that last argument we had. For not insisting they visit the doctor sooner. For sending them on that last errand. For not discovering the right healing supplement. For not being able to cure their addiction or ease the pain
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