This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud Valda contributed a whooping 32 entries.
Writing about spirituality and grief is complex but important. Grief affects every part of our being – body, mind and spirit – especially in the first year or two when grief is new and raw, and we have not yet learned how to live full lives in the absence of someone or something central to […]
Goal or Process Orientation, or a combination of both As I write, I’m very much aware that we’ve lived with our changed social environment for many months, with no real end in sight. We probably have more in common now than in previous decades, but there are still differences in the way we are reacting. […]
Most of us are familiar with the term ‘soulmate’. In my years of counselling grieving widows and widowers, many described their deceased partner as their ‘soulmate’, rightfully assuming that I would understand how that term indicated the depth of their connection and the intensity of their grief. Assumptions and intuition aside, I have recently found […]
Thursday the 10th of September is World Suicide Prevention Day. As our community focuses attention on suicide and its impact on families, schools, our nation and the rest of the world, it seems to me to be an appropriate time for all of us to think about our personal responses. The word suicide seems to stimulate […]
According to the dictionary, the word ‘anticipate’ means to foresee, foretell, have advanced knowledge of, or look forward to a future event. Great if the foreseen event is positive, but if not, what is foreseen can almost paralyse us with fear. For example, diagnosis of a terminal illness, for us, or for someone we love, […]
I’ve acknowledged in other Blogs that our experience with loss begins when we leave the known world – the safe cocoon of our mother’s womb – and enter the unknown world of everyday life with all of its challenges. The nature of the losses we experience from that point, and the way we learn how […]
We stood in small groups, clad in respectful funereal clothes, exchanging wordless hugs and mopping tears. Words seemed inadequate to express intense feelings, thoughts too fleeting to gather into a coherent sentence. We lingered, not wanting to break comforting connections with friends and relatives who we saw so rarely – geographical distance relegating meaningful exchanges […]
A child’s version of ‘Grief in the Workplace’ I was sitting at my computer, sweltering in the humid heat of early January, preparing for another year of the work I love, when I wrote the words below. I knew even then that by the time you got to read these words, the year would be […]
What a beginning we have all experienced to the year 2020 – a year that held so much promise, so much to look forward to. The numerical aspect – 2020 – had an almost magical sound, somehow like 2020 vision that might give everyone a fresh start – but the magic aspect has long passed. […]
I have a dilemma writing about the art of distraction – I don’t want it to be about me, but if I don’t include my own story it sounds like a lecture with a prescription, and that’s the last thing I want. So, I’ll take a risk and leave it to your discretion to decide […]
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