Grief Digest Articles

But would you want your grief to really end?At first glance, you might passionately reply, “Are you kidding? Of course I want my grief to end!” But perhaps what we are really saying is we want the hurting, the heartbreak, the sore yearning and sharp pangs of grief to be no more. Could this description better capture the gist of our desire for grief to end?Strangely enough, there may be aspects of grief that some of us may not want to end. For example, certain grievers I’ve met say the pain of gr …

This year was the 118th editionof one of sport's greatest rivalries.I have watched it faithfullyfor more than seventy years.It is the only game I watchwhere the National Anthemis actually the feature event.It is guaranteed that I will bemightily stirred by the sightof the brigades marching in,with perfect formations ofArmy gray and Navy blue.I and my family have neverbeen asked to go to war.The cadets and midshipmenI watch have sworn to defendme and my family to the death.When the National Anthe …

Grief isFeeling great joy and unbelievable sadnessin the same moment.Grief isFeeling like you’re breaking apartBut knowing you can’t – you’re already brokenGrief isRealizing you don’t go to hell from hereYou’re already thereGrief isWaking in the morningAnd crying because you didGrief isFake plastic smiles and sad puffy eyesGrief isHiding yourself awaySo no-one else need sufferGrief isGoing through the motionsAnd not knowing whyGrief isNot knowing how to explainAnythingGrief isListening to people …

The pictures don’t do it justice. The pictures present a breathtaking image, but the pictures don’t do it justice. At the top of an island sits a majestic abbey with its multiple steeples protruding into the sky. The bright, blue water surrounding the island travels to meet the cloud-scattered sky, and viewers realize the spiritual devotion it must’ve taken for those who built the monastery at the top of the island. One land bridge leads the travelers to their destination, dropping them off at t …

I recently finished Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air. The memoir is wrenching, elegant, and unforgettable. For those who haven’t read it, Paul Kalanithi was a brilliant neurosurgeon at Stanford who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He and his wife Lucy, also a physician, became parents just weeks before Paul’s death. This is a book of extraordinary courage, and while it’s been on my radar since early 2016, I put off reading it until a writing client asked me to do so to help inform her …