There are many reasons why people might spiral into an abyss of grief. What makes it more challenging is when they also feel they can’t fully express themselves or seem to come to terms with the loss. Finding support to not only accept grief and loss but also learn methods to move through it often...Read More

Acceptance is a complicated process. Acceptance is a final stage of the grieving process defined by Elisabeth Kubler Ross. We come and go throughout acceptance during the entire process of grieving. If our grieving goes undealt with, we may never reach acceptance, which means our grief never gets resolved. As a result… …We never let...Read More

Grief goes through many stages which can be difficult to cope with. Feeling the actual feelings of grief until a final stage of acceptance can be reached is not as easy as turning to maladaptive coping behaviors instead. These are some of the common ways people cope with grief in order to avoid feeling the...Read More

  Anger, depression, bargaining, acceptance, denial. These are the five stages of grief which never appear in any particular order or quantity. Grief is a process of mourning as well as healing. Grieving a loss can take time and energy, at times feeling as though it may never end. The grieving process can take days,...Read More

Dealing with grief during the holidays… Children looking at holiday cards ~ 1910 Did you ever stop to wonder why we have so many major holidays crammed into the last 90 days of the year? For many of us these holidays hold special memories of our childhood. These memories may be positive or negative, depending...Read More

Cottonwood’s Sonoran Desert landscape is a living workshop! “…a workshop is where you do actually get feedback on your work, not just something where you go and sit for a day.”  Octavia E. Butler – American Writer  Workshop is a very positive word. If you think about your home environment, you might have a workshop...Read More

How we survived November 22, 1963 If you are at least 55 years old, then there is a pretty good chance you have vivid memories of where you were and who you were with when you first learned that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Today we are pausing to remember and acknowledge  the...Read More

“Mom, we are OK.” We are now 48+ hours out from the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. As each hour passes we learn a little more about the murdered victims, the injured victims, the first responders, the physically uninjured survivors, the alleged shooter, and his past history; all the while investigators (both varied...Read More

Don’t worry, be happy… It was September 1988, that’s right 25 years ago, when Bobby McFerrin’s song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” was released. Here are a couple of interesting facts about this song: It was the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart The original music video included...Read More

Boston Marathon Finish Line.1910. Author: Unknown. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Where were you on Monday, April 15, 2013? We are now two days out from the horrific events that occurred at the Boston Marathon. We thought we would take a few minutes to reflect about Boston’s citizens, the first responders to the Marathon bombings, those who...Read More