There is little in life that rocks us like the death of a husband or wife. Whether you're feeling alone, drowning under an ocean of emotions, or you've worked your way through to the darkest nights of the soul and are now wondering how to get on with your life, you'll find comfort and guidance from the authors of this book. One a clinical psychologist, the other a pastor and professor, both suffered the loss of a spouse at a relatively young age. Their empathy, valuable psychological insights, biblical observations, and male and female perspectives will help you experience your grief in the healthiest and most complete way so that you can move forward to embrace the new life that is waiting for you on the other side.

We tend to understand grief as a predictable five-stage process of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But in The Other Side of Sadness, George Bonanno shows that our conventional model discounts our capacity for resilience. In ...

We all suffer the loss of a loved one. This uplifting book will guide you on your journey through grief and inspire you with evidence of the afterlife. A practicing lawyer for over two decades, Mark Anthony is also a gifted medium who has worked with thousands of clients. He shares incredible true stories of contact with spirits and their enduring messages of forgiveness, gratitude, and acceptance. Even more remarkable, you will be able to recognize and make contact with the spirits of your loved ones. Compelling, comforting, and inspiring for those of all backgrounds and faiths, Never Letting Go offers true healing through messages of hope from the Other Side. Watch Mark Anthony discuss Never Letting Go here. Praise: "This deep, emotionally touching book is destined to become a metaphysical classic."—Joyce Keller, author of Seven Steps to Heaven "An enlightening journey through coping with grief and discovering spiritual renewal. I highly recommend this book!"—Jeffrey A. Wands, author of Another Door Opens

In this thoroughly revised and updated classic, a renowned psychologist shows that mourning is far from predictable, and all of us share a surprising ability to be resilient The conventional view of grieving--encapsulated by the famous five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance--is defined by a mourning process that we can only hope to accept and endure. In The Other Side of Sadness, psychologist and emotions expert George Bonanno argues otherwise. Our inborn emotions--anger and denial, but also relief and joy--help us deal effectively with loss. To expect or require only grief-stricken behavior from the bereaved does them harm. In fact, grieving goes beyond mere sadness, and it can actually deepen interpersonal connections and even lead to a new sense of meaning in life.

Shamanic energy teacher Karen Johnson writes with both hope and compassion in a book described by bestselling author and noted shamanic teacher Alberto Villoldo as "The owner's manual for embracing grief with courage and transforming it into wisdom, to discover the ultimate and lasting gift of joy." Karen Johnson's fast-paced professional life came to an abrupt halt when she lost her twenty-seven-year-old son to a heroin overdose. Rather than grieve in a way that made people around her comfortable, she did the unexpected. She retired, sold her house and all her household goods, and went on a two-and-a-half-year journey that took her all over the world, finding a spiritual practice along the way. Karen didn't think she could ever find her way out of despair, but she found a process that worked-a sacred journey and map-that she wants to share with others so they can heal too. This book is structured around practices that are part of the Four Winds Medicine Wheel as developed by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D. Karen blends her personal story and meaningful experiences with each direction of the Medicine Wheel, offering exercises related to each of the four practices. Writes Karen, "I want you to know something really important. You may be feeling stuck in your grief and wondering why you can't seem to get over it. I felt the same way until I realized we do not get over grief. It's not like catching the - u; we aren't sick. There is no cure, and we can't medicate it away. Grief is a state of being that carries energy that you can tap into to create a new life. Just as we use the energy of other newly acquired states of being like marriage or parenthood to transform our lives, we can likewise use the energy of grieving to transform."

Finally, real help for grievers from a medical professional who has been there. One out of every ten grievers gets stuck in complicated grief. If you have complicated grief, you remain mired in the early, acute stages of grief indefinitely. CG affects your ability to move through grief in a healthy way and hinders your ability to function in everyday life. A Registered Nurse, Rhonda O'Neill was diagnosed with complicated grief after her husband and son died within two years of each other. She shares her struggle with CG for those years and shares how she found her way back to healthy grief and was finally able to live her life with some happiness again. It is not easy to understand the symptoms and implications of complicated grief. Here, the author uses her medical background to translate some confusing information on complicated grief into clear terms for the non-medical griever. The first section of the book is a memoir of the author's blessings and losses. She describes her loving, blended family, her descent into the fog after her husband's death, the issues she faced as the single mother of a dying son, and the love and regrets that assail a grieving mother. In section two, you will find easy-to-understand information to help you determine whether you are suffering with CG. And since the Western view on death seeks to make dying and grieving invisible, you will find real help about what you can expect and how you can care for yourself in your often lonely struggle. Finally, since grieving can awaken a yearning to understand the meaning of life and death, you will need some kind of spiritual path to help you cope, whether traditional or nontraditional. You will find ideas about how to begin the search for the answers you need.

In this remarkable book, John Welshons weaves together his own personal awakening with those of others he’s counseled to create a deeply felt and beautifully expressed primer on dealing with grief. Grieving, says Welshons, offers a unique opportunity to develop deeper and fuller life experiences, to embrace pain in order to open the heart to joy. Written for those who have experienced any kind of loss — death, divorce, or disappointment — this book offers reasonable, reassuring thinking on dealing with the death of loved ones and ourselves, finding the inner gifts that promote healing, and much more. Awakening from Grief takes a rare and compelling positive look at a subject needlessly viewed as one of the most negative in life. This is a persuasive primer on drawing the joy out of grief.