Things pass, transform, change – and we must learn how to live with our eyes wide open for what is here right now. Laurie talks about turning your attention to the love that shines through the sadness. ... Read More >>
Category: Personal Story of Love & Loss
Seeing Death in a New Light
Studying reincarnation and our existence can aid us all in accepting death in a new way, even a death as devastating as a parent. ... Read More >>
Four Things Eckhart Tolle and Thich Nhat Hanh Taught Me About Grief
Learn how losing his unborn child led a first-time father into depression and then, to meditation and mindfulness. ... Read More >>
Grieving My Alcoholic Father: Reflections On My Mindful Journey Through Loss
When my father passed away, I was just 16 years old. And while this should have brought my world crashing down, you should know that this event was not as traumatic for me as it likely should have been, at least not right away… ... Read More >>
The Healing Power of Karma After Loss
An Eye For an Eye? I have often told my students at Utica College that karma isn’t about an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. If that was true, we’d all be blind and eating our meals through a straw. For someone like me, who tends to value sacred law ... Read More >>
The Magic Meditation Formula
Last year, my husband Steve died. His death changed my life in an instant. We were childhood sweethearts. I was 13 when we met and he was 14. He made a commitment to love me forever and that’s exactly what happened until the day he died. We had 38 years of marriage and an exciting ... Read More >>
Getting Through It: Writing About the Landslide of Grief
I write to think about questions that are preoccupying me. In my novel Landslide, I consider how resilience arises out of catastrophic loss. When I started the novel, my mother and three close friends had died. My husband had battled cancer. I had gone through unexplained, early menopause which also felt like sorrow and loss. ... Read More >>
Living in the Space Between: Personal Reflection on Stillbirth Grief
Like any trauma survivor, I spent the first few days that I was home alternating between trying as hard as I could to sleep to shut the world out, and flashing back. Flashing back to the mess of a girl that I was . . . on the surgical recovery floor, not the maternity floor. ... Read More >>
Losing Yourself in the Grief of a Sibling
Major Griffith, USMC, was killed in action on December 14, 2011 by an enemy Taliban sniper. Sam was a beloved Marine Corps Officer who embodied perseverance and grit. His death greatly impacted the lives of all that knew and loved him and changed the course of Renee’s life forever. When Sam died, I realized I ... Read More >>
Acceptance: A Personal Quest
Almost everyone experiences bereavement and grief at some stage in their lives, yet no one experiences it in the same way. We are all different in the way we respond. In the midst of grief, it is difficult to accept intended words of comfort such as “I know how you feel.” Such words always sound ... Read More >>