Thursday Review: Website: Grief's Heart

Thomas Attig, an internationally acclaimed expert in bereavement and grief, is the author of two books on grieving, How We Grieve and The Heart of Grief, He tells us that bereavement and the grief that accompanies it, affect every aspect of our beings--physical, emotional, social, spiritual, behavioral. Our self-concept, our life story, is forever changed by our loss. In grieving, we relearn our world in every area of life. We learn a new self-identity, but we also find ways to relate to the one we've lost. His books are "heavy" reading, but his prfound understanding of what grief means and how we respond to it is eminently practical.

He views each life as a web of relationships--to objects, places, people, God. When one strand of that complex web is broken, the others are affected. Our spouse's tattered robe, the chair he sat in to watch TV, the music he played on the car radio, the restaurant where we celebrated special occasions, the children we raised together, our friendships, our plans, our dreams--all are reminders of what will never be again.

Attig's website, Grief's Heart (unfortunately, I don't have the symbols needed to link to it, but you can Google it)has excerpts from his books and other writing as well as video of his newest work.

Most important, he invites readers to share their grief stories and will post them on his site. Those of us who blog know the value and the emotional release of writing our experiences. Attig respects those experiences and gives us the opportunity to share them with others.

Here is a site that offers something to all of us who inhabit the widowsphere. I highly recommend that you visit it and partake of Attig's wisdom and comfort.

Recommended Reading for Widows

Highly Recommended: Seasons of Solace: A Story of Healing Through Photos and Poems by Janelle Shantz Hertzler

Janelle Shantz Hertzler was a young wife, mother, and teacher working alongside her husband in Thailand when on a summer morning, her life was shattered. While riding his motorcycle to a meeting, John, her husband, was hit head-on by a drunk driver and killed instantly. With her son, Janelle returned to the U.S. Two years later along a river bank, she noticed a small red leaf, dying but radiant. She was compelled to capture that image in a photograph and thus began her journey through grief to solace. Along the way she photographed images of nature that spoke to her and recorded her anger, her grief and her memories in poetry. Not a professional photographer or a poet, she brought to life the universal experience of grief and acceptance in ways that speak to anyone who has survived a devastating loss. Her pictures beautifully demonstrate the healing power of the natural world and her voice resonates with those who have embarked on a journey from death to life. She ends her book, “My view of life, fuller because of death.” Here is a book that comforts and inspires. Well worth reading. To learn more about Janelle, see www.journey-through-grief.com