Grieving

Our relationship started, as all great relationships do, with no thought about the ending. It was 1996 and I had recently initiated a series of good-byes. I left the religion of my childhood [...]

The other day someone asked me how families from the missing Malaysia flight could have Honorable Closure. “It’s way too soon for that, I said.” Now is a time for shock, grief and wailing. [...]

This weekend I realized I have been feeling a low-grade melancholy, a heaviness of heart that cannot be attributed to the winter blues. (I live in draught-stricken California where winter has [...]

“He who sings scares away his woes.” – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist The fourth step in Honorable Closure is to Reclaim Joy by Inventing Your Next Story. One of the best ways I know to [...]

“To see that life is a joyful participation in a world of sorrows, and that suffering is not the same as unhappiness is one of the singular blessings Japan has to offer.” – Pico Iyer Pico [...]

Carola’s daughter-in-law took her own life and though she was not her biological child, Carola experienced her as one. The loss was excruciating for her and her family. On the eve of the three [...]

Last week, I attended the Sundance Film Festival for the first time. My friend Elaine and I saw five movies (some inspiring, others edgy, one awful). We laughed, reveled in falling snow, drank [...]

Yesterday I hiked with a friend through the Marin Headlands near the San Francisco Bay, not far from where I live. It was a cool winter afternoon with steel grey skies and a rainstorm brewing off [...]