After a prolonged absence, I am glad to be able to say once again: Welcome back to In Due Course. During my absence, some people have written comments that I will respond to in the upcoming weeks. For today, though, my emphasis will be on what has transpired over the past three months. Since my last posting, a number of things have happened to make it difficult for me to sit down at the computer and continue my writings: technical difficulties resulting in a move from a PC environment to a Mac environment, holidays, travel, and illness. However, the most important events have involved three deaths, all within the same six-week period: a family friend, a close aunt, and my mother. Of course, the most significant was the death of my mother, Dortha Kilcrease.
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Today my posting for In Due Course is a wrap-up of our topic for the past seven months – bereavement, grief, and mourning. I will cover what I consider important concepts about loss and its ramifications for each of us.
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Welcome back to another posting of In Due Course. Last week I went over how to know when you may possibly need the assistance of a professional counselor with your mourning. Today I want to discuss how we can prepare for and deal with the losses we encounter during our lives. These suggestions are adapted from Robert Neimeyer’s book Lessons of Loss, a Guide to Coping.
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Welcome back to In Due Course. This week I am starting a series on bereavement, grief, and mourning. Before we begin, it might be good to first talk about loss.
We experience all kinds of loss throughout our lives. Losses can be the result of not only a death, but also a divorce, a kidnapping, abandonment, an amputation, an accident or disease that causes mental/physical disabilities, being fired or laid off from a job, natural disasters, a child leaving home to live on their own, unfilled dreams, etc.
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Welcome to my first posting on “The Journey Ahead"(changed to In Due Course in April 2008). As I sit down and start writing, I realize that you may be wondering what the significance of the title is and why I am discussing death, dying, and bereavement. I chose “The Journey Ahead” because of what each of us has ahead of us on our own life journey. Part of the journey ahead is suffering through the death of people we love, and part is experiencing our own death. You might ask, “Why should I want to have anything to do with death, dying, and bereavement, I’m not dying or grieving? Besides, that’s morbid!” Based on my professional and personal experience, I think there are two reasons to openly discuss these topics: one is more philosophical, the other is more practical.
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