A Grief Support Blog

This blog will allow you the opportunity to acquire both support and guidance after experiencing a significant loss.

Blog

Emotional muscle memory

The biochemistry of the human brain is being deciphered rapidly. Neurotransmitters have been identified, quantified, and classified. We've learned that our brains memorize passageways from stimulus to response at nearly unperceivable speeds. What is also obvious is that once the electro-chemical coding takes place and becomes entrenched, it is very hard to dislodge. So what else is new?

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  • Apr 02, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 4 comments

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Look carefully. Is that the question you thought it was or have the words been turned around? At first glance you might have thought it said, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Almost everybody knows this question and can tell you that it is also the title of a book. Many can also tell you that it's a book written from the author’s grief over the death of his son.

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  • Mar 31, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Time does not heal. Actions do

Awhile back I got a call from a young man who was reeling from the impact of a divorce that happened nearly two years ago. He had been married for twelve years. His litany of pain was palpable and his life was affected at all levels, with people falling away from him like leaves off a tree in a windstorm, and his business was diminishing at a rapid pace.

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  • Mar 26, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Why your brain only wants the bad news

Breaking News - Hometown, USA:

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  • Mar 26, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Grief is becoming an open topic of conversation

The Grief Recovery Institute, as an organization, takes no position on political or social issues. We only have positions on how effectively we can help people deal with their reactions to loss of every imaginable kind. Of course, if we had the power, we would eliminate all events that harm anyone, but that’s not realistic.

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  • Mar 24, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Talking to your children about events in the news

Simple DOs and DON'Ts DO -
Go first. As the adult, you are the leader.
 
DO - Tell the truth about how you feel. It will establish a tone of trust and safety.
 
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  • Mar 18, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Special tribute to Fred Rogers; a sad day in the neighborhood

A man once said, "Grief is the feeling of reaching out for someone who has always been there, only to discover when we need them one more time, they are no longer there." Today there are many people feeling just that way as they hear of the death of Fred Rogers. All across America, people are mourning the death of someone who came into their homes and their hearts for many years.

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  • Feb 27, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Grief Recovery is like an artichoke?

Indelibly embedded in our collective consciousness is a huge psychic scar, the result of the litany that began with the savage events of 9/11/01. Many of us are left with a low-grade emotional infection that never quite goes away. The constant potential for further acts of terrorism - vague, nonspecific, and unpredictable - has engendered a hypervigilance which corrodes daily life.

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  • Feb 04, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Grief Recovery: Emotional CPR. Can you imagine?

A man falls to the sidewalk, clutching his chest. A passerby witnesses the scene, goes to the man, leans down and whispers,
 
"I’m going to the book store to get a book about heart attacks. I’ll be back in a little while to help you."
 
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? And dangerous! Let’s try another version.
 
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  • Jan 30, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

Grief help: No tools for the first loss = No tools for the second

This week has occasioned the celebration of my 40/20 birthday. At least that's how a dear friend labeled it - you do the math. Having reached another chronological marker in my life reminded me of a conversation I had with my mother several years ago.

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  • Jan 03, 2003
  • Russell Friedman
  • 0 comments

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