COPING WITH GRIEF & LOSS

Even if you weren't able to appreciate a relative/s before they passed, writing about them from your heart and memories can bring them to life. I urge readers to write their own story that will honor their loved ones who have passed. This is a marvelous way to cope with grief and loss.

Unlike Elizabeth Kubler Ross, who claimed that denial was the first stage of grief, my first stage was to make order of my agony by writing about the months before my brother's death. Writing that chronology as a fresh survivor of suicide loss was my initial way to cope with unspeakable grief. I searched for hidden clues that I might have missed.

Symbolic messages from loved ones who have died may come to you! My brother left a farewell note and one book which he marked up with his comments about freedom before he died. One year later, as I was writing about his death a parakeet came to watch me from a nearby branch. That bird symbolized the freedom my brother yearned for. With that, my grief began to heal.