Grief Tips – Helping us all navigate this time
When Dad was diagnosed, he was given an estimated survival timeline of a few years at most. This was a hard reality to absorb. Mum sent us all copies of a very helpful book, on understanding and adapting to a life changing diagnosis. Hope For The Best, Plan For The Rest. Mum, Rachel and our dear friend Georgeanne also went to hear the authors speak.
Another wonderful thing that happened early on was that Dad was connected with the caring and organized palliative care team from Champlain Hospice Palliative Care Program. It was hard to talk about, but they helped to ensure that his wishes were understood, his comfort was prioritized and we were prepared for upcoming steps. At first, the binder they gave us sat empty on a shelf, but in the final month it became an essential communication tool between nurses and the doctor who visited him at home. The pages for the family also described what we could expect.
Now, we have come to the end of the books. There are no pages to guide us through the next step.
Once again, mum has contacted a great resource and we are lucky to know some wonderful people who have walked through grief. Below are some tips and resources that have been shared with us, and we hope that they are useful to you.
- We will all grieve differently
- Don’t worry about not being able to focus
- Take time to listen or read or just be
- Your grief may hit much later
- It’s normal, but it’s a real shitty normal
- Take your time
Resources
- Ted Talk: We don’t move on from grief, we move forward
- Ted Talk: 3 ways companies can support grieving employees
- Ted Talk: Step out of grief by dancing with fire
- A helpful perspective
- Sudden Loss: A Free Meditation for Healing and Processing Emotions
- Mygrief.ca Website
- Modern Loss Website
- Francis Weller Books: The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief; The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation
- Alan Wolfelt Books: When Your Soulmate Dies; The Wilderness of Grief: Finding Your Way
- Monica Novak Book: The Good Grief Club
- Kristin Neff: Self Compassion
- (From Emma) Loss: Poems to better weather the many waves of grief (2023) by English poet Donna Ashworth
- A local hospice likely has grief groups and counselling
Thank you Maryann for this. Our family has also experienced much loss this past year. One additional resource that I sent to several people is a book of poems – Loss: Poems to better weather the many waves of grief (2023) by English poet Donna Ashworth.