Tag Archives: Graceful Mournings

A Intimate Glance Into the Benefits of a Home Funeral

A mother mourns her daughter with a "non-traditional" funeral

Lucia Maya cared for her daughter Elizabeth, diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma at the age of 21, when she returned to their family home to die. Historically, children often died before their parents largely due to illness and accident. Yet it … Continue reading

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Our Weekly Tip: Create An Altar or Meditation Space to Keep Memories Alive

A physical place to remember creates context for groundlessness

Our Tip of the Week: The experience of bereavement (literally, to be torn apart) often comes with a sense of groundlessness — like the rug has been pulled out from under your feet, throwing you into a free-fall where your … Continue reading

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“On Pain” by Kahlil Gibran

Timeless funeral poem coaches us to meet the lessons of pain with openness

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. So begins Kahlil Gibran’s poem, “On … Continue reading

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Our Weekly Tip: Sing The Blues

Expressing yourself through song is an effective technique to navigate grief

Our Tip of the Week: Let out the roar. Let out the sob. Release what is rising to the surface instead of burying it inside. We can do this in an incredibly effective way using the vibration of our own … Continue reading

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Art World Responds to Orlando Shooting

Less than a week after the Orlando Tragedy, artists speak out

On the night of Saturday, June 11, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people, injuring 53, and irrevocably changing the lives of countless more. Most of the victims were young LGBTQ Latinos and … Continue reading

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“The Promise” by Tracy Chapman

Heartfelt memorial song gives voice to loss, longing and remembrance

Tracy Chapman’s song “The Promise” is as much as song of separation as it is of togetherness. As listeners, we can place ourselves in the role of speaker/singer addressing a loved one, but it is just as easy to imagine … Continue reading

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