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This was written as a letter to Dr. Neimeyer. We decided to print it as an AfterTalk Pandemic Weekly because many people adopted pets or lost beloved pets during the Pandemic, and this might resonate for them–the editors. Dear Dr. Neimeyer, I am not writing to ask a question, but rather to share my grief. […]
Continue ReadingA Bronzeville Mother Loiters In Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon – Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks The murder of Emmett Till in 1955, and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers and public viewings of Till’s mutilated body, stirred the American consciousness and provoked outrage across the country. In 1960, Gwendolyn Brooks published her own […]
Continue ReadingWhat Martin Luther King’s Daughter Has to Say About Grief by Lynda Cheldelin Fell She was just 5-years-old when her famous daddy, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Thanks in part to the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the young Bernice King on her mother’s lap, most are familiar with that story. Yet a recent New York Times article about […]
Continue Readingby Joel Harrison Aug 19, 2022 The most amazing fact that any of us will ever encounter is that we were born. The second is that we die. Death rejects logic. Loss can’t be contained. Losing a loved one strikes at the most raw, intimate regions of the heart. It tears away what we hold […]
Continue ReadingLarry: My first wife, Vanessa, and I married young and were unable to have children so throughout our 24 years together it was just us. We never missed going out for a special Valentine’s Day dinner together. I took care in selecting a Valentine’s Day card that best expressed to Vanessa how much I […]
Continue ReadingCompanioning is about going to the wilderness of the soul with another human being; it is not about thinking you are responsible for finding the way out. by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. “The only map that does the spiritual traveler any good is the one that leads to the center.” —Christina Baldwin When someone we […]
Continue ReadingCompanioning is about being present to another person’s pain; it is not about taking away the pain. by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. To be bereaved literally means to be “torn apart.” When someone is torn apart, there is a natural need to embrace the heartfelt pain of the loss. There is no pill we can […]
Continue ReadingBy Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. “Real understanding is a creative mixture of certainty and unknowing. The trick is to know when you don’t understand.” ~ Thomas Moore Curiosity for the companion is about being willing to enter into and learn about the mystery of grief while recognizing you do not and cannot fully understand someone […]
Continue ReadingBy Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. It was Thomas Moore who observed, “Our science and technologies approach life as a problem to be solved.” This made me reflect on the reality that our therapies approach grief as a pathology to be cured. My hope is that you agree with me that it is time to face […]
Continue ReadingEditors Note: As we approach another “anniversary” of the January 6th riot, we want to again recognize the murder of officer Brian D. Sicknick. Here’s what we said last year and an update: “We have three pandemics sweeping the world: COVID-19, Climate Change, and Hatred. Two years ago the third of those took the like […]
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