http://www.living-with-grief.com Learning to embrace grief and draw new strength and meaning from it. Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:55:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Have you ever attended a funeral? I'm quite sure you have. But have you ever participated in one? The experience is an entirely different one. For the former, you may or may not have enjoyed a meaningful relationship with the person lying in the coffin. You may not even know ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/have-you-ever-been-part-of-a-funeral/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com  When my mum passed on, my dad took over the use of her mobile phone and number. Almost exactly four years later, my dad passed on, too. It has been more than three years since, yet I am still holding on to the number. It has been more than ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/hanging-on-to-the-past-mobile-number/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com It is the festive season again. Sometimes, I can barely believe how each year just zips by before us. It is a pretty well-known fact that such seasons, where people spend time with loved ones, evoke strong, painful memories for those who have lost loved ones, and strong feelings ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/one-more-christmas-with-them/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com Losing a loved one is a very trying experience. At that point, almost everything seems doom and gloom, and life can be pretty empty. And it's especially hard because we are so caught up in the event, with no idea of why it has happened, what is ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/joining-the-dots/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com Perhaps, when we were very young, we innocently believed that life was all smooth and rosy and that all the people dear to us would be around with us for a long, long time, if not forever. Once you've lost one loved one, however, everything changes. It's ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/coping-with-the-fear-of-more-loss/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com In some ways, my grief experiences -- the loss of my parents in my 20's, which is earlier than most people -- have hardened me to the possibility of losing loved ones. Yet, at the same time, I feel that grief experiences build on each other, ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/hurt-from-the-loss-of-many-loved-ones/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com The loss of both my parents, although both to illness, were very different experiences. With dad, it was a fall-ill-admitted-to-hospital-condition-deteriorates kind of scenario, while with mum, it was more of a fall-ill-coma-it's-over type. I can't say which was more difficult to bear. The two experiences were painful ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/saying-those-last-words-and-the-final-goodbye/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com This society of ours values strength. The fittest survive, the best win, the strongest top the chart, and what not. Being weak, on the other hand, is seen as a sign of, well, weakness. The result is that many people put on facades of strength, while they ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/the-importance-of-being-weak/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com As we mourn the loss of our loved ones, it is often tempting to retreat into a shell, to build a barrier and shut ourselves away from the love of others, and any interaction with them. This is something I strongly discourage. Oh yes, we definitely need ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/keeping-in-touching-distance-of-others/ by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com During the immediate period after the passing of a loved one, we are usually surrounded with care, concern and the support of friends, relatives and other associates. They ask how we are, they go easy on us, they console us, and they volunteer whatever help is needed. They do this ... http://www.living-with-grief.com/the-period-after-the-immediate-period/