10 Things About Anniversaries Post-Loss

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inspirational quote saying you will never be forgottenThe journey with grief and healing after loss includes dealing with anniversaries. This might be your loved one’s birthday, death day or any other specific meaningful day in relation to them. In fact, any thing meaningful is a reminder and may trigger reactions and responses – this is very normal.

Here are 10 things (and links to other resources) to help you think about, prepare and nurture yourself when approaching anniversaries and other meaningful dates.

1. Anniversary reactions are normal

Even years after the loss you may have emotional reactions to anniversaries. You might feel sad, angry, contemplative or any other emotions. Remembering them as being normal can help you understand and take them as healing opportunities.[Tweet “Most of all, give yourself the option to do or not do anything on the day and know that it is okay”]

2. Do whatever feels right for you [Read more…] about 10 Things About Anniversaries Post-Loss

What You Don’t Want In a Relationship

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Sorry, I can't go for that!
Sorry, I can’t go for that!

This week I heard the song “I can’t go for that” by Rumer and Daryl Hall. It made me ponder the question of relationship boundaries. Have you thought about where your boundaries in relationship are lately? Ponder with me…

The beginning

We usually start out with a relationship being in ‘head-over-heels’ love for one another where we are tempted to full heartedly believe in the romantic notion of “I’ll do anything for you”. Even though that is completely normal at the very beginning of a relationship, it is not normal, when you progress into every day life. [Tweet “Sorry, that’s out of relationship bounds!”]

The reality

When we relate with our partner past the honeymoon stage we usually come back to our more realistic self, meeting the more realistic self of the partner. That’s where, sometimes, the disillusionment sets in and some relationships fall apart.

In a perfect world [Read more…] about What You Don’t Want In a Relationship

10 Things About Grief Support

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True to myself
True to myself

[Tweet “Find the support that is right for you”]Grief is an experience we all have to deal with sooner or later. Whether you have experienced it or not, you will eventually have friends and family members who are dealing with a loss. That is when you are in the role of a supporter. The following ten things about grief support are written for the grieving and at the same time they will hopefully enlighten the supporter’s role.

1. Grief is overwhelming

This applies to the bereaved person as much as to the support person. Keep this in mind and do not over-expect, neither from yourself, nor from your surroundings to know the right things to do and say in every moment.

2. Find the support that is right for you

Whether that is grief counseling, support group, religious support or talking to a friend, make whatever you chose to be suitable to you. Be willing to change, if the first thing you try does not work or stops working for you after a while. [Read more…] about 10 Things About Grief Support

Grief Reflections Launch – Online Program

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Grief Reflections - Discussion on Parental Bereavement
Grief Reflections – Discussion on Parental Bereavement

We welcome you to join us for our first ever Grief Reflections gathering on The Healing Conversations Youtube Channel. To get all the information about this interactive community project and how you can contribute to the conversation, please visit http://grievingparents.net/grief-reflections/

The event will be live on Friday, 11 July and every 2 weeks thereafter. If you are unable to take part at the time, you can still submit a question prior to the event and come back and watch the conversation through this link.

Time and Date:
Because this is a world-wide online event we will be joining in from different time zones. Below are the event times in a few of the main time zones around the world.
11 July 2014
7am San Francisco PDT
10am New York EDT
3pm London GMT
4pm Zurich, Paris, Munich CEST
10pm Perth AWST
12am Sydney, Brisbane AEST

To convert to your timezone, please visit:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Submitting Questions:
We will open the event wall on Facebook around 12 hours prior to the live event for you to submit your questions.

The topic this week will be Grief Support. So please ask any questions that you may have regarding this topic. For example “Where did you find the best support?” or “How can I get my family and friends to be more supportive?”. We will try to get to as many questions as we can during the conversation. Please note that if your question is chosen, your name will be read out. There is no obligation for you to submit a question either, if you would rather just sit and listen in, please feel welcome to do that!

Updates on future Grief Reflections:
If you wish to be updated about future events via email, please sign up here.

We look forward to gathering with you all!

Thank you so much for supporting the our new project with your presence. We look forward to starting this journey with you all!

With love,

CarlyMarie and Nathalie Himmelrich

9 Steps On How To Get Things Done

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quoteonbackground
Get organized and STAY calm

Have you ever experienced that some of your tasks never seem to get done, even though they might be important and some even urgent? It is because they trigger some aversion, fear, worry, insecurity or boredom. Here is how you can get them done.

1. Make a list

Put aside 20 minutes and a take a fresh notebook. Start by making a list of all those things that you want to get done. This will create some free mental space and release some of the worries around forgetting them or the repercussions of not completing them.

2. Sort your list

Go through your list and sort your items in four categories:
a) urgent and important,
b) urgent but not important,
c) important but not urgent,
d) neither urgent not important [Tweet “Planning saves you 40 times the time for execution”]

3. One off tasks or recurring jobs [Read more…] about 9 Steps On How To Get Things Done

Back by Popular Demand Series: Love Language Part 2 – Quality Time

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Couple-running-on-beach
What’s the quality of your time spend with each other?

Within every language, there are many dialects. Here below you will find just a few but in the end you need to understand your spouse’s dialect.

Togetherness:

Spending time together with focused attention. What happens on an emotional level is what matters. It communicates that you care about each other, that you enjoy being with each other, that you like to do things together. [Tweet “Quality conversation focuses on what we are hearing”]

Quality conversation:

Quality conversation is sympathetic dialogue where two individuals are sharing their experiences, thoughts, feeling, and desires in a friendly, uninterrupted context. Words of affirmation focus on what we are saying, whereas quality conversation focuses on what we are hearing. [Read more…] about Back by Popular Demand Series: Love Language Part 2 – Quality Time