6 Months of Grief Project: Day 106

Books, Books, Books

This is Day 106 of my #6MonthsOfGrief Project. To learn more about this practice, feel free to visit Day One, where I explain this project in more detail.

I like working for a book publishing company. I'm surrounded by people who read and are passionate about the written word. Also, we focus on "books that change lives," which is probably my most favorite sort of book. And because everyone here focuses on publishing books that transform, inevitably everyone I work with has a deeper understanding of their own life transformations, as well as a deeper consciousness about the world.

This deeper understanding has held a container for me in my deep grief. There are times when my heart is so broken that I am sobbing at my desk and instead of being met with fear, confusion, or uncomfortable feelings, I have only been witnessed, held and given space to grieve. I have never felt this kind of clean, unconditional support in a workplace before and I am so thankful. Of course, thanks to my inner Eastern European work horse, whom I have named Gerta, I also can still get all my work done, even while exhausted and deeply in grief.

I'm thankful that I get to go to this place every work day. I am thankful for my friend Kim making this happen, and my husband for leading me to her.

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I am very aware that this project can bring up a lot around yours or other's grief and loss, I will always follow every post with some online grief support resources that have helped me. Please feel free to let me know of online support that you have found healing in your grief, as well:

Art with Grief:

• Filmmaker Gemma Green Hope made a short animation in memory of her grandmother 
• Photographer Sarah Treanor Takes Moving Self-Portraits to Cope with Her Fiance's Death
• When the Fall Comes, a film about Grief by Adriana Marchione
• Self-Portraits: Expressing Emotion Through Art on What's Your Grief?
• The Hard Romance of Grief by Mark Liebenow
• The poetry of John O’Donohue

Resources for Widows:

• Widowed Village
• Camp Widow

• Soaring Spirits International

Living with Grief Resources:

• Modern Loss's excellent resource list
• The writings of Tim Lawrence
• The Rules of Grief are for Other People by Shawn Doyle on The Good Men Project
• Grief Bibliography on Grief Healing
• Teresa “TL” Bruce's What to Say When Someone Dies
• They Brought Cookies: For A New Widow, Empathy Eases Death's Pain by Ann Finkbeiner on NPR
• A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
• Megan Devine’s Refuge in Grief
• The Geography of Sorrow: Francis Weller on Navigating Our Loses, interviewed by Tim McKee in Sun Magazine
• How to Be a Friend in Deed by Bruce Feiler in the New York Times
• 12 Things to Know About the First Year of Grieving Someone You Can’t Live Without by Laurie Costanza in Elephant Magazine

And remember, I am sharing this project on a variety of platforms, including my Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook feeds, as well as my Pinterest page on Grief. I use the hashtag #6MonthsOfGrief, so it can easily be found on any platform. Please share this project with anyone you think might need it.

Thank you, and see you tomorrow.