Health | Healing
How Can We Find
REST IN GRIEF?
I
t was the end of a six-week grief support group called Grief Options. As the attendees reflected about what they each experienced, I found it interesting that over half of the group mentioned their appreciation for the group dynamic. “It really comforted me to know I wasn’t alone,” was the repeated comment. For many, the isolation of grief had added significant pain to their already broken heart. The group in the Grief Options meetings found support from one
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BY KAREN NICOLA, M.A.
another. They found strength and courage. They also found rest from their pain as it subsided through the healthy grief choices they learned to make. What are we to do when we go through difficult seasons in our lives? So often our pain and suffering cannot be understood by others. They might wish we would stop being sad. They would rather we pretend or save our sorrow for another time, preferably when they are not around or when the culture approves. Have you felt this? Do you feel alone in your loss?
A M E R I C A N I N D I A N & A L A S K A N AT I V E L I V I N G
DID IT HAVE TO END THIS WAY?
I once heard the legend of a Warrior Chief and his beloved wife. Sadly, the Chief died in an important battle against evil. However, instead of honoring his death by raising their baby to follow justice and goodness, her grief overtook her. Rather than gaining strength from her community and finding hope in healing that comes to the broken hearted, she chose the unthinkable. Before anyone in the tribe could stop her, this widow,
