After my dad passed away this year, in May, I began hand sewing a block a day as a way to sit with my grief. These pieces have been a way of touching in daily to see how grief is unfolding in me, to see what is shifting and what questions remain.
The blocks currently remain in a pile on my desk. I’ve hit a hiatus…. I guess it’s part of my grief process. I require some space to settle.
In the meantime, I started to compile a list of things that have helped me. This resources list around grief may be beneficial to someone else also experiencing a loss of some kind….death, divorce, distance, disability, incarceration, disease….. there are so many ways we grieve. It’s often something we tend to quietly, alone.
This list helped to soothe me on my hardest days. I hope, by dipping in and out, this list helps someone else too.
David Whyte: Seeking Language large enough.
Ocean Vuong: A life worthy of our breath.
John O’Donohue: The inner landscape of beauty.
Mary Oliver: I got saved by the beauty of the world.
Francis Weller: The wild edge of sorrow. The sacred work of grief.
Tara Brach: Grieving & timeless love.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross: To Live until we say goodbye.
BJ Miller & Mettle Health: The many faces of grief.
Steven Jenkinson: Die wise, while there is such thing as wisdom.
Josh Schrei: Enter the meadows of joy.
Isa Gucciardi: Buddhist perspectives on death.
Michael Singer: Giving meaning to the time between your birth and death.
Hubberman: The science & process of healing from grief.
Elizabeth Alexander (Book): In the light of the world.
Francis Weller & Mark Groves: Finding your soul in the darkness.
Gregory Orr: Shaping grief with language.
Pauline Boss: The myth of closure (ambiguous loss).
Atul Gawande: Being Mortal. Medicine and what matters in the end.
All there is with Anderson Cooper & Kirsten Johnson: Aticipatory Grief
Parker Palmer & Jerry Colonna: How have you lived your life?
The Louis Theroux Podcast: Interview with Nick Cave on his remarkable career, religion & dealing with grief.
BJ Miller (TED Talk): What really matters in the end.
Kirsten Johnson (Movie): Dick Johnson is Dead
Joan Didion (Doco): The centre will not hold.
Steven Jenkinson (Doco): Grief Walker.
If you have any additional resources that have helped you navigate loss I’d love to hear about them. please send on details and I’ll add them to the list, once I’ve listened.
