Finally on my way to yes, I bump into all the places where I said no to my life. All of the untended wounds, the red and purple scars. Those hieroglyphs of pain carved into my skin, my bones. Those coded messages that send me down the wrong street again and again. Where I find them...the old wounds, the old misdirections. And I lift them one by one, close to my heart and I say, holy holy. -- Pesla Joyce Gertler

We feel pain and are more than overwhelmed and powerless from heartache when we lose them. They are at peace and no longer have the need to feel earthly pain. We sometimes feel uplifted and may smile or laugh a little when we remember funny things about them. We recall how much they loved us and may have told us to go on with our lives if something ever happened to them. We eventually find a little relief from our pain. They no longer have the need for pain. Only peace and love for us because… Continue

"The word 'happiness' would lose it's meaning if it were not balanced by sadness." "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." Carl Gustov Jung

There is grief, and all of us on here knows what that is. We have our own little day to day triumphs over our tragedy of grief. What we are and who we are can really get set in a dark corner. Grief is the ultimate teacher in our lives. Of course it rips us and tears us to shreds. But what are we? In my experience, I'm a student in the school of grief. Who are we? We are feelers, thinkers, learners, re-learners, lovers, teachers, believers, givers, helpers, healers, dreamers, hopers, sleepers… Continue

Valentines is tough without the love of my life. I remember our days full of the outdoors. Picnics at lakes, the warm breezes, sitting and talking, watching the birds and the sunglare kissing the waters. Her open laughter and giggles that would make a roomful of people laugh. Watching the sunset and it's magical and soothing colors. The night would fall and there we were, in each others arms, just us and the stars in the sky, shooting stars, moonglow. So many days and nights like these in our… Continue

Hi to all of my OLGS friends. Grief is a long road. I have been doing a lot of reading on how our thoughts trigger brain chemicals which influence our physical feeling and emotional balance. Very amazing stuff. We all grieve differently but we all have the same general bio-processes. Grief is such a threat to our survival. I dont know if we truly recover, or more we learn to incorporate our loss into strength, coping, and remembering with love. I've been told by many people over the years the… Continue

Did you ever stop to think that our grief has a meaning. A hidden meaning, like a type of puzzle that has some missing pieces, or if not missing, they're invisible to us. And all of the pain, suffering and guilt are the pieces that we have to manage to put together. And along this path we start seeing flashes.of hope while conquering some of our fears, then we see more pieces through our teary eyes, we know we have to complete the mission. Just when I seemed to recover from the holidays,… Continue

In case cyberspace is a connection to wherever you are, happy anniversary to my wife Jami! Love Michael

I'm constantly asking myself the question "Who's in charge here?" Is it me or grief? Grief can be so overpowering with it's impact on our feelings, that it has the ability to do our thinking for us. I know that we all grieve differently. Just want to share some things with you all that have helped me along the treacherous road of grief. Was looking at some of my early journal writings and I noticed that I was always looking for a way of thinking around the grief. I noticed that my intention was… Continue