The following is the story of a woman who lost a family member to suicide. In this article, she shares how this loss affected her, and how she was able to overcome the grief. Though we often do not know what provokes a person to take her own life, we do know that the effects…
Category: Love & Family
Commitments of a Better Kind
About a year ago, I began asking myself questions about commitment. I wondered why I was still single and what it really meant to be truly and wholly committed. Wasn’t there anyone out there who I could be truly happy with? What would it take for me to finally commit to a long-term relationship? I…
To Know Your Children
Janene was a nanny for a married couple who didn’t seem to have any interest in raising their child. The mom wanted a career, and the father didn’t want anything to do with rearing his son. Janene worked 21 hours a day, seven days a week, caring for and teaching their son from the time…
How I Remember
I know there are many of you, like me, out there who have suffered the loss of someone you love dearly. Lately, this topic of grief, love, loss, and healing has been weighing on my heart and so I thought I would share something with you about how I remember those I love. l think…
What is Love?
Love is a choice. It is not something that happens to us, or that we ‘fall into’, at least not long term. We may ‘fall into’ love initially by feeling something towards another we cannot explain but only experience but it is only by choice that we stay in love. It is created as we spend time…
Celebrations of Life
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a wedding, a baby blessing, and a funeral. Three days, three of life’s biggest events. And while these events are all very different in their own ways, I believe that they all hold the exact same central purpose—to celebrate life. The blessing of a child brings…
Comfort in Connection
One of my personal struggles is loneliness. I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t loved—not everyone can say this (believe me I know this very clearly as a Social Worker). I can’t recall ever truly being alone or on my own. But there have been sweeping moments and drowning days where…
A Letter to Every Lonely Heart
Recently I was looking back through a conversation from a few years ago between myself and a friend of mine. She’s several years younger than me, and hadn’t had very good luck with dating or boys in general, and in one of her really disheartened moments after a relationship-gone-bad, along with a dose of low…
Fear and the path to Love: Part III
Developing a Practice If you are just joining in on the ride, this is the latest addition in a series of posts dedicated to exploring addiction and recovery, the path from fear to love. I began by talking a bit about our fears and irrational beliefs that keep us stuck in self-defeating patterns and went…