Bearing the unbearable : love, loss, and the heartbreaking path of grief Cover Image

Book

Bearing the unbearable : love, loss, and the heartbreaking path of grief / Joanne Cacciatore ; foreword by Jeffrey B. Rubin, PhD.

Summary:

When a loved one dies, the pain of loss can feel unbearable, especially in the case of a traumatizing death that leaves us shouting, 'NO!' with every fiber of our body. The process of grieving can feel wild and nonlinear and often lasts for much longer than other people, the nonbereaved, tell us it should. This book is a companion for life and most difficult times, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection, compassion, and the very essence of our shared humanity. The author, who is also a bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field accompanies the reader along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities, as well as her own experience with loss, the author opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief.

Record details

ISBN: 9781614292968
ISBN: 1614292965
Physical Description: 222 pages ; 23 cm
Publisher: Somerville, MA : Wisdom Publications, [2017]

Content descriptions

General Note:

Includes index.

Formatted Contents Note:

The Role of Others in Our Grief -- Public And Private Grief -- Ritual and Artistic Expressions of Grief -- Early Manifestations of Grief -- Nutrient-Deficient Soil -- Cultural Sensitivity -- Bearing the Unbearable -- Pause, Reflect, and Feeling Meaning -- The Terror Beneath the Terror -- The Pursuit of Happiness and the Unity of Opposites -- Bypassing Grief, Bypassing Love -- Intensity and Coping -- Contraction and Expansion -- The Collision of Love And Loss -- Boundless and Timeless Love -- Personifying Grief -- Pausing With Grief -- The Practice of Being With -- My Heart Cried Many Tears -- The Barefoot Walkabout -- The Vitality of Self-Care -- Self-Care and Sleep -- Ways to Care for Yourself -- Telling Family and Friends What We Need -- Self-Case as Distraction -- Learning, Adapting, and Trusting Intuition -- Re-Grieving -- Surrendering and Stretching -- When We Fragment -- Duration of Grief -- The Courage to Remember -- Joining Hands -- The Power of Unprocessed Traumatic Grief -- Silenced for Decades -- Guilt and Shame -- Inward and Outward -- Works of Love -- Waves of Grief -- "Remember Me," She Said -- Ritual and Microritual -- Meaning Through Compassionate Action -- Kindness Projects -- Through Knowing Suffering -- Fierce Compassion -- The Horse Chemakoh -- The Price of Unrealized Grief and Trauma -- Transgenerational Grief -- Grief Broth -- The Darkness Has Its Gifts -- What I Know.