by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. Allow Yourself to Mourn Your child has died. You are now faced with the difficult, but important, need to mourn. Mourning is the open expression of your thoughts and feelings regarding the death of your child. It is an essential part of healing. With the death of your child, your…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. Your mother or father has died. Whether you had a good, bad or indifferent relationship with the parent who died, your feelings for him or her were probably quite strong. At bottom, most of us love our parents deeply. And they love us with the most unconditional love that imperfect…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. Your baby has died. You are now faced with the difficult, but important, need to mourn. Mourning is the open expression of your thoughts and feelings regarding the death. It is an essential part of healing. You are beginning a journey that is often frightening, painful, overwhelming and sometimes lonely.…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. Holidays are often difficult for anyone who has experienced the death of someone loved. Rather than being times of family togetherness, sharing and thanksgiving, holidays can bring feelings of sadness, loss and emptiness. Love Does Not End With Death Since love does not end with death, holidays may result in…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.   A paradox is a seemingly self-contradictory statement or situation that is in fact often true. The paradox of mourning we will consider together in this article might, at first glance, seem self-contradictory, but as I will reveal, it is actually a forgotten Truth with a capital T. It’s a…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.   “To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.” — Criss Jami   As you journey through your grief, you are probably being buoyed by—and perhaps also dismayed by—your natural resilience. After all, here you are. You may not have…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.  “Wish not so much to live long, but to live well.” — Benjamin Franklin A simple truth is that from the day we enter into this world, we start to age. To be human means to grow older each day we are on this earth. We begin and we end. However,…

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Identifying and Asking for the Most Effective Grief Support for You by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.   When it comes to our mourning and how others can best help us, there’s no one right way. That’s because every person and every loss is unique. Not only are each of us singular individuals with unique histories…

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by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. “In every heart there is an inner room, where we can hold our greatest treasures and our deepest pain.”  — Marianne Williamson Sadness is a hallmark symptom of grief, which in turn is the consequence of losing something we care about. In this way you could say that sadness and…

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