Consuming Grief

Download or read book Consuming Grief written by Beth A. Conklin and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-10 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mourning the death of loved ones and recovering from their loss are universal human experiences, yet the grieving process is as different between cultures as it is among individuals. As late as the 1960s, the Wari' Indians of the western Amazonian rainforest ate the roasted flesh of their dead as an expression of compassion for the deceased and for his or her close relatives. By removing and transforming the corpse, which embodied ties between the living and the dead and was a focus of grief for the family of the deceased, Wari' death rites helped the bereaved kin accept their loss and go on with their lives. Drawing on the recollections of Wari' elders who participated in consuming the dead, this book presents one of the richest, most authoritative ethnographic accounts of funerary cannibalism ever recorded. Beth Conklin explores Wari' conceptions of person, body, and spirit, as well as indigenous understandings of memory and emotion, to explain why the Wari' felt that corpses must be destroyed and why they preferred cannibalism over cremation. Her findings challenge many commonly held beliefs about cannibalism and show why, in Wari' terms, it was considered the most honorable and compassionate way of treating the dead.

Download or read book Awakening from Grief written by John E. Welshons and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2011-02-09 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable book, John Welshons weaves together his own personal awakening with those of others he’s counseled to create a deeply felt and beautifully expressed primer on dealing with grief. Grieving, says Welshons, offers a unique opportunity to develop deeper and fuller life experiences, to embrace pain in order to open the heart to joy. Written for those who have experienced any kind of loss — death, divorce, or disappointment — this book offers reasonable, reassuring thinking on dealing with the death of loved ones and ourselves, finding the inner gifts that promote healing, and much more. Awakening from Grief takes a rare and compelling positive look at a subject needlessly viewed as one of the most negative in life. This is a persuasive primer on drawing the joy out of grief.

Download or read book Letters to Grief written by Kate Motaung and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2020-02-05 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dear Grief, I shudder to refer to you as "dear." Yet you have been with me for so long that you have become a part of me, which I suppose entitles you to this term of affection, though my heart grants it unwillingly. You are an enigmatic and elusive creature, a chameleon, changing color with habitat and season. Some say you pass with time, like grains of sand sifting through my fingers, no longer resting in the safety of my palm. Others say you are a process, as if by accomplishing twelve prescribed steps I could graduate from your possession and be free of you. But you are not a process. You do not pass, at least not in this lifetime. You dwell with me - in me - but you are not my master. You roam on a leash, tethered by the One who owns you. You haven't always been here, and one day you'll disappear, for there's only one Alpha and Omega. One beginning and one end, and you are neither. You will not win, nor overcome. You've already been subdued and defeated, for "death has been swallowed up by victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54). A day is coming when you'll be deemed redundant and your crown obsolete. On that day, O Grief, you will no longer be called "dear" . . . nor even a distant memory. ___________________________________ Unfortunately, grief is not a 12-step process. It may contain five or more general stages, but even these stages are rarely a linear process. Grief is far more often a cyclical journey, like the stages of the moon. Always present, but not always visible. Since everyone endures loss in their own way, this collection of nine reflective letters to grief personified is descriptive, not prescriptive. Letters to Grief offers readers encouragement and hope to deal with loss and grief in the midst of their own unique circumstances. Readers are invited to reflect on their personal grief experience by writing in the journaling pages throughout the book.

Download or read book Notes on Grief written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the globally acclaimed, best-selling novelist and author of We Should All Be Feminists, a timely and deeply personal account of the loss of her father: “With raw eloquence, Notes on Grief … captures the bewildering messiness of loss in a society that requires serenity, when you’d rather just scream. Grief is impolite ... Adichie’s words put welcome, authentic voice to this most universal of emotions, which is also one of the most universally avoided” (The Washington Post). Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. Expanding on her original New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core. She writes about being one of the millions of people grieving this year; about the familial and cultural dimensions of grief and also about the loneliness and anger that are unavoidable in it. With signature precision of language, and glittering, devastating detail on the page—and never without touches of rich, honest humor—Adichie weaves together her own experience of her father’s death with threads of his life story, from his remarkable survival during the Biafran war, through a long career as a statistics professor, into the days of the pandemic in which he’d stay connected with his children and grandchildren over video chat from the family home in Abba, Nigeria. In the compact format of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, Adichie delivers a gem of a book—a book that fundamentally connects us to one another as it probes one of the most universal human experiences. Notes on Grief is a book for this moment—a work readers will treasure and share now more than ever—and yet will prove durable and timeless, an indispensable addition to Adichie's canon.

Download or read book Grief Works written by Julia Samuel and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-01-16 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An honest, practical, as well as emotional guide to working through the processing of mourning” (Vogue), Grief Works is a lifeline for all of us dealing with loss and a handbook to help others—from the “expected” death of a parent to the sudden and unexpected death of a child or spouse. Death affects us all. Yet it is still the last taboo in our society, and grief is still profoundly misunderstood. Julia Samuel, a grief psychotherapist, has spent twenty-five years working with the bereaved and understanding the full repercussions of loss. In Grief Works, Samuel shares case studies from those who have experienced great love and great loss—and survived. People need to understand that grief is a process that has to be worked through, and Samuel shows if we do the work, we can begin to heal. “As a guide for the newly grieving, Grief Works succeeds on many levels, and the author’s compassionate storytelling skills provide even broader appeal…and consistently hit an authentically inspiring note” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). “Illuminating” (The New York Times), intimate, warm, and helpful, Samuel is a caring and deeply experienced guide through the shadowy and mutable land of grief, and her book is as invaluable to those who are grieving as it is to those around them. She adroitly unpacks the psychological tangles of grief in a voice that is compassionate, grounded, real, and observant of those in mourning. Divided into case histories grouped by who has died—a partner, a parent, a sibling, a child, as well section dealing with terminal illness and suicide—Grief Works shows us how to live and learn from great loss. This important book is “essential for anyone who has ever experienced grief or wanted to comfort a bereaved friend” (Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones’s Diary).

Download or read book Grieving Mindfully written by Sameet M. Kumar and published by New Harbinger Publications. This book was released on 2005-07-01 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grief is a personal journey, never the same for any two people and as unique as your life and your relationships. Although loss is an inevitable part of life, how you approach this fact can make the difference between meaningless pain and the manifestation of understanding and wisdom. This book describes a mindful approach to dealing with grief that can help you make that difference. By walking this mindful path, you will discover that you are capable of transforming and healing the grief you carry and finding the spiritual and emotional resilience you need to move through this challenging time. These mindfulness practices, explained here in simple and practical language, will help you bear your time of grief. But they will do more than that, too. They will guide you to a life more fully lived, with more meaning. These simple practices will help you experience what richness comes from asking deeper questions about loss and about life.

Download or read book Grief Light written by Julie Yarbrough and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grief Light is for anyone who is grieving. From her personal perspective on the light side of grief, the author illuminates many of the universal truths of grief through practical, spiritual illustrations and examples from ordinary life. Written in an informal, approachable style, each brief meditation offers grief insight through the rich imagery of stories and scenes from everyday experience, supported by Scripture and a prayer idea. Through these positive, uplifting reflections on life and love and death, you will discern how your faith can grow as a gift of grief through the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. When you read these almost devotionals, you may think, Oh yes, that happened to me or Now I understand more about what it is Im feeling or I thought I was the only one whod ever experienced that or Theres really some plain talk here about human nature. Grief Light also addresses some of the more contemporary, yet seldom fully acknowledged issues that surround grief, including collective/communal grief, incomplete grief, compound grief, and complicated grief. The hope is that the heart and spiritual truths of Grief Light will guide you toward a better understanding of your grief and direct you away from the darkness, toward the light of new life.