Can pills cure grief?
“The grieving process gets close at what it means to be human; it’s understandable that handing it over to professionals armed with pills approaches the most dangerous misuse of pharmaceuticals we can imagine. “Whereas depression is usually constant, grief is more likely to ebb and flow in waves and it does not usually invoke the […]
Grief
“Grief is like a drunken houseguest who keeps coming back for one more goodbye hug.” Source
The price of a good pic
The subject of this photo, taken after the shootings in Newtown, Conn, says: “I sat there in a moment of devastation with my hands in prayer pose asking for peace and healing in the hearts of men. I was having such a strong moment and my heart was open, and I started to cry. “All […]
Inconsolable dog
From yesterday’s Telegraph, one of those faithful-beyond-death dogs you like so much: Ciccio, a 12-year-old German shepherd, waits in vain in front of the altar of the Santa Maria Assunta church in the village of San Donaci in the southern region of Puglia. He heads to the church as soon as the bells begin to […]
The Empty Chair
Posted by Quokkagirl Each Christmas I, like many other celebrants, am asked if I will ‘do a reading’ at memorial services which funeral directors provide for their past clients. Being the secular contingent of the service, it’s usually a painful and time-consuming trawl through the poetry books to find something remotely suitable and relevant. There […]
Participation is transformative
From an article by Cassandra Yonder, home funeral guide and death midwife: The difference between home and “traditional” funerals is subtle yet significant. When families choose to stay present to care for their loved ones in death they come to understand in a real and meaningful way that the physical relationship they had with the […]
Eat up your greens
GFG hero Thomas Long questions the value of happy funerals. “To start at the end – to start at the celebration … without processing the sadness, jumps over steps and in effect paralyses us … If one really wants to be sure that one will remain sadder for longer than necessary, then pretend to be […]
Don’t let my people go
Writing in yesterday’s Times, Matthew Parris says: “missing somebody terribly, years after they’ve gone, is not some kind of psychological disorder to be “got over” or “dealt with”, but an honest response to loss. I hate all that stuff about closure and moving on.” He was prompted to write this after being asked to discuss, on the […]
The British way of death
“You don’t mind if I go, do you?” “No, Granny, it’s been nice having you.” Libby Purves’ daughter to her grandmother on her last day.
Meaning in metaphor
We are driving to the crematorium for the committal. It’s late afternoon. A shower of rain is clearing as we breast a rise in the road and there in front of us is a rainbow. ‘Look!’ It’s a sign. It’s common at funerals for people to see a sign. Call it superstitious, call it what […]
