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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Our Annual Seven Holiday Gifts for Someone Who Is Grieving, 2024 Edition: Gracious gifts that spread love and beauty -
“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
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Categories
Tag Archives: Suicide
Death at a Funeral: The Now-Extinct Indian Custom of Sati
Indian widows threw themselves into their husband's pyres during this outlawed tradition
It’s not uncommon to find strict cultural rules that tell women exactly how to behave after a husband’s death. In some societies, women are expected to wear all black, cover the mirrors in their homes or even stay indoors for … Continue reading
Posted in Cultural Perspectives
Tagged Cremation, Hindu, India, Indian Burial Traditions, Indian death rituals, outlawed death rituals, Parvati, pyre, Sati, Scythians, Shiva, Suicide, Widows
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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
This fictional tale delves into the pain of losing close friends
In high school, a man named Tsukuru Tazaki was once part of a loving group of five friends; suddenly, he lost them all without explanation. What follows in Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years of Pilgrimage is an exploration into … Continue reading
Watch Joe Biden’s Stirring Speech About Losing a Child
The vice president talks about the loss of his wife, daughter and son
In a surprisingly candid speech at Yale, Vice President Joe Biden described the pain parents endure when they lose a child. Biden understands this idea better than most. He recently lost his son Beau Biden, 46, to brain cancer, and … Continue reading
Posted in Something Special
Tagged Beau Biden, Brain tumor, Child Loss, Childrens Death, Grief, Joe Biden, Speeches, Suicide, Vice President, Yale
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Uganda’s Banyankole Tribe’s Death and Burial Traditions
Today we explore some of the unique death and burial traditions of the Banyankole tribe in southwestern Uganda
Contrary to many cultures, the Banyankole tribe, who reside in Ankole in southwestern Uganda, traditionally believed that death did not occur naturally but rather through methods of sorcery, scourge or spite. Therefore, when people died, their loved ones, wanting to … Continue reading
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J. Mitchell
Judy Melinek shares how her career as a pathologist has colored her understanding of life and death
Judy Melinek’s Working Stiff is the kind of memoir that reads like a season of the TV show “CSI”. In her book, she writes how her experience as a forensic pathologist has led her to uncover murder plots, medical accidents … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Autopsy, Book Review, Forensic pathologist, Grief, Judy Melinek, Life and Death, Medical examiner, Memior, New York City, Suicide, Working Stiff
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“Here Comes Those Tears Again” by Jackson Browne
A haunting and reflective memorial song that touches on the narrator’s struggle with his deep grief over the loss of a lover
When Jackson Browne — best known for his hits like “Doctor My Eyes” and “Running On Empty” — lost his first wife to suicide, he channeled his grief into the hauntingly beautiful “Here Comes Those Tears Again” that was partially … Continue reading
