Grief Connects Us

Grief Connects Us PDF Author: Joseph D. Stern
Publisher: Central Recovery Press
ISBN: 1949481522
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
In his exceptionally thought-provoking and moving memoir, neurosurgeon Joseph D. Stern explores how personal loss influences the way physicians relate to patients and their families. How does a doctor who deals with the death of patients on a regular basis confront his own loss when his beloved sister is living out her last days? Despite a career as a neurosurgeon, Joseph Stern learned more about the nature of illness and death after his younger sister, Victoria, developed leukemia than his formal medical training ever taught him. Her death broke down the self-protective barriers he had built to perform his job and led to a profound shift in his approach to medicine. During the year of his sister’s illness, Dr. Stern developed a greater awareness of the needs of patients and their families; of the burdens they carry; of the importance of connection, communication, and gratitude; and of what it means to ask the right questions. Grief Connects Us bridges the gap between patients and doctors, providing a window into their shared concerns. Interspersing reflections from Victoria's journal, stories of patients and colleagues, and insights from experts, Dr. Stern has orchestrated a symphony of voices guiding us toward greater mutual understanding and appreciation of the beauty and fragility of life. No matter which side of the patient-doctor relationship you find yourself on, listening with empathy, a willingness to be vulnerable, and emotional agility are skills we can all develop to improve how we meet difficult, unavoidable challenges.

Grief Connects Us

Grief Connects Us PDF Author: Joseph D. Stern
Publisher: Central Recovery Press
ISBN: 1949481522
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book

Book Description
In his exceptionally thought-provoking and moving memoir, neurosurgeon Joseph D. Stern explores how personal loss influences the way physicians relate to patients and their families. How does a doctor who deals with the death of patients on a regular basis confront his own loss when his beloved sister is living out her last days? Despite a career as a neurosurgeon, Joseph Stern learned more about the nature of illness and death after his younger sister, Victoria, developed leukemia than his formal medical training ever taught him. Her death broke down the self-protective barriers he had built to perform his job and led to a profound shift in his approach to medicine. During the year of his sister’s illness, Dr. Stern developed a greater awareness of the needs of patients and their families; of the burdens they carry; of the importance of connection, communication, and gratitude; and of what it means to ask the right questions. Grief Connects Us bridges the gap between patients and doctors, providing a window into their shared concerns. Interspersing reflections from Victoria's journal, stories of patients and colleagues, and insights from experts, Dr. Stern has orchestrated a symphony of voices guiding us toward greater mutual understanding and appreciation of the beauty and fragility of life. No matter which side of the patient-doctor relationship you find yourself on, listening with empathy, a willingness to be vulnerable, and emotional agility are skills we can all develop to improve how we meet difficult, unavoidable challenges.

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers PDF Author: Max Porter
Publisher: Graywolf Press
ISBN: 1555979378
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Here he is, husband and father, scruffy romantic, a shambolic scholar--a man adrift in the wake of his wife's sudden, accidental death. And there are his two sons who like him struggle in their London apartment to face the unbearable sadness that has engulfed them. The father imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness, while the boys wander, savage and unsupervised. In this moment of violent despair they are visited by Crow--antagonist, trickster, goad, protector, therapist, and babysitter. This self-described "sentimental bird," at once wild and tender, who "finds humans dull except in grief," threatens to stay with the wounded family until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss lessens with the balm of memories, Crow's efforts are rewarded and the little unit of three begins to recover: Dad resumes his book about the poet Ted Hughes; the boys get on with it, grow up. Part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter's extraordinary debut combines compassion and bravura style to dazzling effect. Full of angular wit and profound truths, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is a startlingly original and haunting debut by a significant new talent.

How Animals Grieve

How Animals Grieve PDF Author: Barbara J. King
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022604372X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
“A touching and provocative exploration of the latest research on animal minds and animal emotions” from the renowned anthropologist and author (The Washington Post). Scientists have long cautioned against anthropomorphizing animals, arguing that it limits our ability to truly comprehend the lives of other creatures. Recently, however, things have begun to shift in the other direction, and anthropologist Barbara J. King is at the forefront of that movement, arguing strenuously that we can—and should—attend to animal emotions. With How Animals Grieve, she draws our attention to the specific case of grief, and relates story after story—from fieldsites, farms, homes, and more—of animals mourning lost companions, mates, or friends. King tells of elephants surrounding their matriarch as she weakens and dies, and, in the following days, attending to her corpse as if holding a vigil. A housecat loses her sister, from whom she’s never before been parted, and spends weeks pacing the apartment, wailing plaintively. A baboon loses her daughter to a predator and sinks into grief. In each case, King uses her anthropological training to interpret and try to explain what we see—to help us understand this animal grief properly, as something neither the same as nor wholly different from the human experience of loss. The resulting book is both daring and down-to-earth, strikingly ambitious even as it’s careful to acknowledge the limits of our understanding. Through the moving stories she chronicles and analyzes so beautifully, King brings us closer to the animals with whom we share a planet, and helps us see our own experiences, attachments, and emotions as part of a larger web of life, death, love, and loss.

The Journey Through Grief

The Journey Through Grief PDF Author: Alan D. Wolfelt
Publisher: Companion Press
ISBN: 1617220973
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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Book Description
This spiritual companion for mourners affirms their need to mourn and invites them to journey through their very unique and personal grief. Detailed are the six needs that all mourners must yield to and eventually embrace if they are to go on to find continued meaning in life and living, including the need to remember the deceased loved one and the need for support from others. Short explanations of each mourning need are followed by brief, spiritual passages that, when read slowly and reflectively, help mourners work through their unique thoughts and feelings. Also included in this revised edition are journaling sections for mourners to write out their personal responses to each of the six needs. This replaces 1879651114.

Moving in Forever

Moving in Forever PDF Author: Rebecca Wu
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781733757805
Category : Bereavement
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
When Ryan and Brandon's Aunt Carrie comes to live with them, a world of fun opens up. Days are filled with laughing, playing superheroes, and having dance parties. Although Aunt Carrie is the most fun aunt in the world, she is also very sick, and wants to spend the precious time she has surrounded by those who love her. Based on true people and events, this book is about love, loss, and remembering a loved one who dies. This book covers the topic of grief in an honest, sensitive way. It also highlights the various emotions involved in the hospice care experience. The story and characters help children and adults see how to stay authentic while facing sadness, hopeful when facing loss, and joyful when facing longing.

Harnessing Grief

Harnessing Grief PDF Author: Maria J. Kefalas
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807040258
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
The inspiring story of a mother who took unimaginable tragedy and used her grief as a force to do good by transforming the lives of others. When Maria Kefalas’s daughter Calliope was diagnosed with a degenerative, uncurable genetic disease, the last thing Maria expected to discover in herself was a superpower. She and her husband, Pat, were head over heels in love with their youngest daughter, whose spirit, dancing eyes, and appetite for life captured the best of each of them. When they learned that Cal had MLD (metachromatic leukodystrophy), their world was shattered. But as she spent time listening to and learning from Cal, Maria developed the superpower of grief. It made her a fearless warrior for her daughter. And it gave her voice a bell-like clarity—poignant and funny all at once. This superpower of grief also revealed a miracle—not the conventional sort that fuels the prayers of friends and strangers but a realization that, in order to save themselves, Maria and Pat would need to find a way to save others. And so, with their two older children, they set out to raise money so that they, in their son PJ’s words, could “find a cure for Cal’s disease.” They had no way of knowing that a research team in Italy was closing in on an effective gene therapy for MLD. Though the therapy came too late to help Cal, this news would be the start of an unexpected journey that would introduce Maria and her family to world-famous scientists, brilliant doctors, biotech CEOs, a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback, and a wise nun, and it would also involve selling 50 thousand cupcakes. They would travel to the FDA, the NIH, and the halls of Congress in search of a cure that would never save their child. And their lives would become inextricably intertwined with the families of 13 children whose lives would be transformed by the biggest medical breakthrough in a generation. A memoir about heartbreak that is also about joy, Harnessing Grief is both unsparing and generous. Steeped in love, it is a story about possibility.

The Anatomy of Grief

The Anatomy of Grief PDF Author: Dorothy P. Holinger
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300256086
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
An original, authoritative guide to the impact of grief on the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved Grief happens to everyone. Universal and enveloping, grief cannot be ignored or denied. This original new book by psychologist Dorothy P. Holinger uses humanistic and physiological approaches to describe grief’s impact on the bereaved. Taking examples from literature, music, poetry, paleoarchaeology, personal experience, memoirs, and patient narratives, Holinger describes what happens in the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved. Readers will learn what grief is like after a loved one dies: how language and clarity of thought become elusive, why life feels empty, why grief surges and ebbs so persistently, and why the bereaved cry. Resting on a scientific foundation, this literary book shows the bereaved how to move through the grieving process and how understanding grief in deeper, more multidimensional ways can help quell this sorrow and allow life to be lived again with joy. Visit the author's companion website for The Anatomy of Grief: dorothypholinger.com

When You Lose Someone You Love

When You Lose Someone You Love PDF Author: Joanne Fink
Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
ISBN: 1620082896
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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Book Description
Filled with expressive sentiments and beautifully simple illustrations from the personal grief journal of award winning artist/author Joanne Fink, this special edition of When You Lose Someone You Love offers a healing connection with all who are dealing with one of life’s most challenging times. Readers will understand that they are not alone, that there will be days when you feel overwhelmed, nights when you can’t sleep, and times when waves of sadness wash over you unexpectedly. Affirming and cathartic, this book will help bring healing without sugarcoating the challenges of losing a loved one. When You Lose Someone You Love is an incredible gift of comfort for anyone who endures the journey of losing a spouse, a family member or close friend. When You Lose Someone You Love features... • Life-affirming insights from the personal grief journal of an award-winning artist. • Expressive sentiments take readers through the many emotions of loss. • Beautifully illustrations on every page. • A 116 page book that offers the “look and feel” of a very personal greeting card.

The Memory Box

The Memory Box PDF Author: Joanna Rowland
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ISBN: 1506426727
Category : Christian literature
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
"I'm scared I'll forget you]]' From the perspective of a young child, Joanna Rowland artfully describes what it is like to remember and grieve a loved one who has died. The child in the story creates a memory box to keep mementos and written memories of the loved one, to help in the grieving process. Heartfelt and comforting, The Memory Box will help children and adults talk about this very difficult topic together. The unique point of view allows the reader to imagine the loss of any they have loved - a friend, family member, or even a pet. A parent guide in the back includes information on helping children manage the complex and difficult emotions they feel when they lose someone they love, as well as suggestions on how to create their own memory box.

The Secret Life of Grief

The Secret Life of Grief PDF Author: Tanja Pajevic
Publisher: Abbondanza Press
ISBN: 9780986303135
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Winner of the Nautilus Silver Book Award After her mother's death, a first-generation Serbian-American woman explores what it means to grieve consciously in a society that barely acknowledges grief. Throughout, she grapples with love, loss and legacy, as well as personal and familial transformation.