Understanding and Managing Grief, March 5 - March 11, 2023

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

The International Day of Hope and Healing after Loss is a free online experience brought to you by the Opento Hope Foundation with the mission of helping people find hope after loss. Open to Hope's International Day of Hope & Healing After Loss « YouTube

The biggest misconception about grief is that we can get over it. I believe we can heal, but we never fully leave grief behind. I like an analogy here: If we think of grief as a fluid, soon after a loss, it fills us entirely. But with time and guidance, we grow. Grief doesn't shrink, but it takes up a smaller amount of space within us. Grief is universal, but we don't talk about it. I want to change that. Here are 7 things I want everyone to know about grief « Africa Business Insider

There are other kinds of grief, too, variations that are even less universally understood or acknowledged. One of these is ambiguous grief, which can feel just as cloudy as its name suggests. It's possible to grieve someone who is still alive. Ambiguous grief is something many of us will contend with at one point or another. Naming the feeling takes some of its power away.  When There’s No Hallmark Card for Your Grief « Psychology Today

This might come as a surprise to many readers. I think there is a widespread assumption that parents would prefer to be spared the sight of their kids’ deaths, that it might be too traumatizing, and that we would be better off being shielded from the sight. I’m here to assure you otherwise. As a parent who lost their children in a tragic accident, I am grateful for the opportunity to be with them during their final moments despite efforts to shield me from the truth.  Grieving parents want the truth « Kevin MD

Hospital's complicated electronic health record system and authentication processes cause significant delays and challenges for physicians, leading to decreased patient care time. When I used to make hospital rounds before the millennium, I would spend 10- 20 minutes with a patient and a few minutes documenting the visit in the chart. I now understand why hospital-based physicians complain that they have no more than five minutes to spend at the bedside while spending 15 to 20 minutes in front of the computer screen trying to document what they did during the five minutes at the bedside. There has to be a better way! Physicians spending more time with computers than patients « Kevin MD

When Anna Tims volunteered at a hospice, she learned, by helping patients in their final days, not to fear illness and death. Here, she writes movingly on her experience – and explains why dying matters.  What being a hospice volunteer taught me about death and life « The Guardian

It’s February and I am an MSU student. I do not know what to say except it feels like learning a language, this broken grief. It comes to me in flashes, fragments, woven into a culture created by the hum of my TV. When the world turns at night, I whisper to myself in the dark of my room. Oftentimes, nothing comes out. I wonder how long we are going to go around like this. Guest Essay: Grief, Part 2 « The State News

While [my brother] wasn't a gardener and his ashes were scattered at sea, I found myself thinking about the many ways in which gardens over the years have kept precious memories of our loved ones alive. Traditionally cemeteries have been created in garden settings: appropriate since the Eden-like landscape is a comforting reminder of new life growing in the face of death and loss. Time in a Garden: Grieving in the garden « Petoskey News

There is little to no information about the personal toll job loss takes on employees who are fired or laid off. As a society, we treat job loss and grieving as a taboo subject. Terminated employees are just expected to get over it and move on to the next new gig. There is a great deal of shame in our LinkedIn workforce and people are programmed to only reflect strength and positive attitudes.  Job loss, grief and professional identity « Westchester & Fairfield County Business Journals

"I have never been a religious person. But it seems that when you have such a tragedy in your life like losing a husband of 40 years that you seem to turn that way because you are looking for an answer. All the books that I seem to read talk about the plan that God has in store for you. Why I get so upset is that I was completely happy with my old plan - being with the love of my life until we were, say, 90 years old (not just 60). So why take my wonderful plan away and make me so miserable because He has a plan for me?" Looking for Aswers in Grief « Grief Healing

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