Our family’s last Thanksgiving celebration was the final holiday we shared with my beloved father nine days before he died. I never know when I will experience a pang or a sobbing bout or a joyful wave of hilarious memories. The only constant is that there are no rules. I appreciate Claire Ansberry’s helpful guidance for people wondering how to say and do helpful things gracefully for people who are grieving.
Grief
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What should we expect when we lose someone who is important to us? Is there an evolutionary purpose for sadness? What does it mean that people also laugh at funerals? What distinguishes resilient mourning?
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AllHome and FamilyRelationshipsSelf regulation
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: The Health Benefits of Social Connections
Would you knowingly engage in behaviors that you know would lead to a cascade of negative health events? After her husband died, Shirley regularly declined invitations to go places with…
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AllAppreciative InquiryAweCreativityGratitudePathway 3 "Meaning"RelationshipsResilienceSavoring / In-the-Moment
Healing Loss through Positive Psychology
Kathryn Britton recently wrote about using positive psychology to deal with a sudden loss as she mourned her dear friend Linda. Grieving is an individual process, but while no two people have an identical experience of losing a loved one, there are several patterns that emerge. I’d like to offer some observations about how Positive Psychology is at work while people heal after a loss, even in the long term.
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On April 16, my dear friend, Linda Frank, died in a traffic accident. I’ve gone through a wide range of emotions over the last month — numbness, sadness, humor, confusion, emptiness, … But beyond my own grief, I’ve worried about her family. What do they need? How can I best be there for them? I’ve also looked around and seen many people who want to do something.