“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” – Anne Lamott “If good things lasted forever, would we appreciate how precious they are?” – Hobbes of Calvin & Hobbes Grief requires copious amounts of grace. […]
“No road is too long in the company of a good friend.” – Japanese Proverb Grief is a long, lonely road with an unknown end. Traversing it demands stamina, fortitude and resilience. Surviving it requires support, help and companionship. Inevitably, there will be times you feel fully and wholly alone. No one person can completely […]
One of the most impactful ways to improve your mental health is through reading. Reading allows us to challenge ourselves, our viewpoints, our knowledge and understanding, and our daily practices. These 5 books have been instrumental in helping me process and interact with my own trauma, patterns, depression, and personality. This list is by no […]
We’re a people obsessed with timelines and enslaved to expectations. We operate under the neatness and predictability of our black-and-white plans, checking the necessary boxes as we go. We do what we should when we should. But grief laughs in the face of expectations. It eats expectations for breakfast and then belches obnoxiously in punctuation. […]
“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” – Olivia Shaver, my mother One day in 6th grade, my parents called a family meeting. In quiet voices, with worried eyes, they told my brother, sister, and I they were getting a divorce. No one spoke for an eternity. The sound of my hysterical laughter eventually broke […]
Every February, after the groundhog does or doesn’t see his shadow, after the Valentines are distributed and devoured, a dark cloud descends, uninvited, upon my world. Regardless of what the groundhog has said. For me, mid-February always means at least 6 more weeks of winter. Since 2010, the middle of February through May 15 is […]
As humans, we are wired with a longing for fairness and justice. An expectation of reparation and equitable consequences. Revenge even. Unfortunately for us humans, life is often unfair, unjust, unaccountable, and inequitable. We find comfort when we can clearly assign blame for things gone wrong. When we can unequivocally point the finger, knowing the […]
Three days after I held my dead baby in my arms, a well-meaning (albeit totally clueless) person shared a story with me. A story of the loss of a child from someone he knew a lifetime go. The moral: despite their utter devastation and heartbreak, his friends knew they dare not be angry at God. […]