Grief Digest Articles

The time passed since my son’s death, has been one year, 3 months, and 16 days. There is still a deep ache in my chest, a chronic longing that I know can never be filled. I hurt in a way that only another parent who has lost a child can understand. I am not being unfair to those who have incurred other losses, because their pain is also great, but when it is the child who you carried in your body for nine months, or the child you lovingly chose when you made the monumental decision to adopt, the …

By Thom Dennis, LCPCAntiques Roadshow is one of my favorite television programs. Viewers watch as antique appraisers travel across the country and spend the day evaluating the trash and treasures that people bring to them. Admittedly, this program does not offer much in the way of gut-busting comedy or high drama, but it does offer one thing: the possibility that you could be rich and not even know it. On the show, it is a regular occurrence for someone to find out that the old lamp they found i …

Ten Steps to Reducing TensionBy Nancy WeilIt sneaks up on us at the most unexpected times. It doesn’t take much to send us there: an inappropriate comment from someone, too much to do and no energy to do it or a sudden flood of emotions welling up. Your day is going smoothly and suddenly, when one thing throws you a curve ball, you begin to feel yourself getting tense. The stress begins to build and your mind begins to look for ways to get out and lay on a beach somewhere. While thoughts of Tahi …

We do not always get to choose what life will teach us; life can be wildly unpredictable. On April 19, 2007, our lives slammed to a halt when our son, Matt, died. He was thirty-five years old, a graduate student in wildlife biology and on an exciting new path in his life. He was strong, tenderhearted, smart and devoted to all of us who loved him. And then…he was hit with a major depression so devastating that he could not recover. He tried hard to heal for eight months, doing all that we and the …

Myriad studies have shown that having an animal companion in your life is just plain good for you. Blood pressure is lowered, loneliness is diminished, psychological stress is reduced, social interactions and communication are enhanced, exercise may increase, and so on. Physical, emotional, cognitive, and psychosocial benefits to animal interaction abound, as the following examples show.As baby boomers age and become increasingly isolated senior citizens, cherished pets may be the only constant …