Good Grief: Healing Through the Shadow of Loss [Paperback]

Deborah Morris Coryell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 1997

Slowly and eloquently, you are lead by the hand to the many treasures at the bottom of the well of grief. Along the way, you will be challenged to embrace all loss -- to refuse the impulse to avoid it or expect it to go away after a preordained period of time. You will also be urged to stop grading and comparing your losses with those of others and instead to embrace them fully. In the process, you will find that loss happens "for" you, not "to" you.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Deborah Morris Coryell is a powerful healer! -- Mel Zuckerman,CEO Canyon Ranch

Deborah Morris Coryell is an insightful and compassionate guide to one of Life's essential growth processes. -- Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi From Age-ing to Sage-ing

Deborah Morris Coryell is one of the most creative counselors I have known.... I have been moved by the depth of her commitment and compassion. -- Andrew Weil, MD; Author of Spontaneous Healing and 8 Days to Optimum Health

I also recommend Good Grief as a resource for both patients and physicians...I give her my highest recommendation. -- Andrew Weil,M.D; 8 Weeks to Optimum Health

It was like a church. The audience was rapt for a very simple reason: Deborah was the embodiment of truth. -- Jesse Kornbluth, America Online

From the Publisher

Good Grief is simple, startling, and beautifully written. It is also practical, highlighting the importance of imaginal relationships, centering images, breath, journaling, ritual, and the gift of time. Easily read in one evening yet memorable for a lifetime, this is a book to quietly give to a friend in need and to reread from time to time while honoring our losses as part of our wholeness.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Shiva Foundation (October 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966069781
• ISBN-13: 978-0966069785
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,727,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A change of perspective on loss, January 28, 2000

By 

Alyson Stone (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Grief: Healing Through the Shadow of Loss (Paperback)

I read this book three months after my mother passed away after a lengthy illness. I would not have been open to it sooner, as the concepts Coryell presents are challenging and take energy to consider. I was surprised to find, as I had spent years of education becoming a psychologist, that this book presented concepts on grief and loss to which I had never been exposed. Coryell encourages the reader to view loss (all loss, not just death) as a central part of life that offers us the opportunity for growth and wisdom if we can learn to accept, rather than fight it. She draws heavily from Buddhist teachings, which emphasize the importance of embracing our pain and learning to accept life on life's terms. Through the use of breathing, rituals of remembrance, and techniques to reshape thought processes, Coryell's gentle and encouraging book has given me a new perspective on loss. She writes in a beautiful, philosophical style that is a refreshing and helpful contrast to some of the "hand books" on surviving grief I have read. I found myself underlining her nuggets of wisdom throughout the book, and immediately after finishing it, I sent three copies to send to the rest of my family members. It's the type of book I will keep nearby for ready reference when I need centering and perspective.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is small but powerful with it's healing from grief, June 16, 1998

By 

Robin Sominski ([e-mail]) (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Grief: Healing Through the Shadow of Loss (Paperback)

After 9 months 11 days as caregiver, I lost my best friend and the love of my life. In the seven months since, it has been difficult to find a reason to live, much less be happy, again. I have read many books on how to deal with grief, but none have touched me as this one. I am believing in my own life again. Deborah Coryell has a way with words like no one else. I will always be grateful to her for this book and for her special ability to touch my own soul. She has given me back my husband, and shown me the way to my own path.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching explanation of why you feel the way you do, November 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Good Grief: Healing Through the Shadow of Loss (Paperback)

This book is different from other grief books in that the author strongly believes we all know (or can figure out) how to grieve. The author's mission is to help us understand why we feel the way we do or to gently identify feelings, though they may never be understood, that are just a healthy aspect of grieving.

This book also illuminates much Jewish wisdom on grieving. Just like that old commercial that you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy a certain rye bread, you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate the Jewish wisdom that the author discusses.

My only caution about the book is that sometimes words fail the author and she falls into "new-ageyness" talk. However, the book is so sweet that you have to forgive the author for her efforts to say the practically unsayable.

To sum it up, to me a book like this is successful if it can provide you with one or a couple of deep insights (epiphanies?). By all means, this books succeeds wonderfully.