WELCOME TO OUR BLOG
Welcome to the SevenPonds.com blog – a community-driven extension of SevenPonds.com! I hope you find comfort and community in the resources and stories featured here. I’m always happy to hear from readers and can be reached at suzette@sevenponds.com.
FEATURED
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“Making Mobiles” by Karolina Merska: An artist’s manual on how to create beautiful Polish pajaki -
“Hands Up to the Sky” by Michael Franti & Spearhead: A surprisingly upbeat song about acknowledging both loss and the beauty of life -
Coping With Election Grief: While half of Americans are celebrating, the other half are in mourning
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Categories
Author Archives: Liz Matsushita (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)
Short Story: “Breaking the News,” by Vladimir Nabokov (1935)
Friends struggle with how to break very bad news in this story of the moment before grief
A prominent 20th-century author and one of the great masters of language, Vladimir Nabokov wrote his share of epic, seminal novel-length works, including Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada, or Ardor. But in the short story “Breaking the News,” first published … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Breaking the News, Classic Literature, Death, Loss, Loss of a Child, Vladimir Nabokov
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The Art of Being a Healing Presence by James E Miller
How to help a loved one through a tough time
What does it mean to be a “healing presence”? Is being present a simple physical state — or is there something more to it? The Art of Being a Healing Presence, a slim 2001 book written by counselor and ordained … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Grief Counseling, Healing, Healing Process, helping loved ones grieve
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The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Sensitive, honest portrayal of loss in the story of the Ganguli family
The family saga is a tried-and-true literary genre, one that usually follows a central clan as they grow, marry, have children, age and eventually die. There’s a certain rhythm to these types of stories — unlike so many other novels, … Continue reading
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Famous Last Words” by Katie Alender
Pocket-sized book takes a lighter look at some notable final utterances
Are a person’s last words important? Do they leave some indelible mark on this world, having been the final vocalizations of a human being before he or she passes into the next one? I’ll leave that for you to decide. … Continue reading
”Last Acts of Kindness,” by Judith Redwing Keyssar
Stories from the bedsides of the dying and what they can teach us
A few months ago, I interviewed Redwing Keyssar for the SevenPonds blog to get her perspectives on death, dying, and palliative care. Her book, Last Acts of Kindness, outlines Redwing’s unique philosophies and also provides a vital tool for health … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Death, Dying, End-of-life care, Good Death, Hospice, Nursing, Palliative Care
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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Semi-autobiographical novel reflects Plath's own struggles with depression and suicidal tendencies
Sylvia Plath’s life reads like a tragedy. A gifted writer and poet from an early age, she struggled with depression starting in her teenage years. She married poet Ted Hughes, with whom she shared a tumultuous relationship and two children. … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Death and Dying, Depression, Mental Heath, Suicide, Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
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