Tag: grief
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Tips for Dealing with Overwhelm in Feeling
When you’re overwhelmed by feeling, such as grief, anger, sadness or frustration, it may seem like it will never end. We have a natural tendency to resist these feelings, to stuff them or avoid them, and we may turn to things like food or alcohol to avoid feeling them. As Carl Jung wisely pointed out,…
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Holding On, Letting Go
For the past six months, I’ve been on a journey, emotionally, spiritually and physically. The ending of my relationship thrust me into the chaos of grief and being uprooted without a home base, and it also sent me into an intense healing period and connecting to myself at an even deeper level. I’ve become more…
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Living in the Moment
In the past couple months, my whole life has been turned upside down. Some might say everything fell apart; it could be that it’s falling together. I have become very aware that none of it is in my control, other than how I choose to react to it. I’ve been utilizing my coaching skills and…
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Feeling My Way Through
Grief is a sneaky little f*&ker. It comes up again just when you thought you were done with it. Last night I gobbled half a bag of cheddar popcorn before recognizing that I was indeed stuffing something, and it wasn’t just the popcorn. Oh, hello, grief. It’s you again. Damn. While my logical (read: ridiculous)…
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I’m not Fine (And You Might Not Be Either)
“Hi! How are you?” “I’m fine. And you?” “Fine. Nice seeing you!” How many times do we have this type of conversation with people in our lives? It is appallingly shallow and so common and pervasive that it seems normal. But does that make it right? I recently learned this quote from Thomas Payne: “A…
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The Messy Side of Becoming
[My lovely teacher Martha Beck developed the Cycle of Change model that describes the process we go through with any major change. It begins with Square One: Death & Rebirth. I’ve been experiencing a lot of major change this year and getting intimately familiar with Square One. I thought I’d share my experience in hopes…
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Catalytic Events
Early on in my career, I had the privilege of working with a sassy, sweet and inspiring group of breast cancer survivors. Coming in at the age of 22 with my freshly printed college degree, I was hired to manage a group of volunteers who ranged in age from 35 to 65. Thankfully I had…
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Faithful Friend
“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.” – Dr. Brené Brown The past month has been difficult for me, and I just couldn’t write about it before now. At the beginning of March, my 18-year-old cat Sabrina was euthanized. She…
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Surprise Grief
“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another.” – Anatole France Even so called “good” changes mean saying goodbye to what was. When I was recruited up to New York City and…