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

Deborah Morris Coryell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 13, 2007

A compassionate guide to the experience of loss as an essential growth process

• Explores the nature of loss as a profound mystery shared by all human beings

• Offers sensitive and practical advice for experiencing grief and preparing for the healing journey that follows

• Includes CD of the author reading selections from the text

We grieve only for that which we have loved, and the transient nature of life makes love and loss intimate companions. In Good Grief professional grief educator Deborah Morris Coryell describes grief as the experience of not having anywhere to place our love, of losing a connection, an outlet for our emotion. To heal grief we have to learn how to continue to love in the face of loss.

In this compassionate guide, Coryell gives inspiring examples of how embracing our losses allows us to awaken our most profound connections to other people. Though our society tends to rank losses in a “hierarchy of grief,” she reminds us that all losses must be grieved in their own right and on their own terms, and that we must honor the “small” losses as well as the “big” ones. Paying attention to even the most minute experiences of loss can help us to be more in tune with our responses to the greater ones, allowing us to once again become part of the rhythm of life from which we have become disconnected. This 10th anniversary edition includes a 60-minute CD of the author reading select passages from the text.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[For] people who are dealing with grief or who are going through other major life transitions. I draw upon Deborah Coryell’s wisdom and expertise and recommend Good Grief as a resource for both patients and physicians.” 
(Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Eight Weeks to Optimum Health )

"Coryell has written a compassionate and quietly inspiring book explaining why we should grieve, how to grieve without getting lost in despair, and what healing can occur when you grieve. . . . I highly recommend this book. It's exceptionally well-written, with a gentleness and strength that supports those experiencing loss, as well as their friends and family members who wish to help, but need direction to do so."
(Karen Phillippi, The Beltane Papers, Issue 35, Oct 2005 )

"This slim yet powerful book will help readers to not just deal with grief, but also to benefit from it."
(Whole Body & Living Soul, October 2004 )

“Helps families deal with grief in a way that is nurturing, honoring, and life-affirming.”
(Gershon Winkler, director of the Walking Stick Foundation and author of The Way of the Boundary Crosser )

“An insightful and compassionate guide to one of life’s essential growth processes. Grieving is not to penalize us; it is love’s healing work for loss.”
(Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, coauthor of From Age-ing to Sage-ing )

“[Deborah Morris Coryell] writes in a compassionate voice that offers comfort as well as a challenge to encourage transformation through the experience of loss. An excellent companion . . . a helpful and validating resource for grief counselors, for anyone working with people in grief, and for many working with their own grief issues.”
(The Library Letter, Bastyr University )

"In this compassionate guide, the author gives inspiring examples of how embracing our losses allows us to awaken our most profound connections to other people." (
Joint Forces Journal, May 08 )

"The book is small, but every word is well chosen, thoughtful and filled with wisdom. The additional CD really impacts listeners because Deborah reads her book with deep compassion, sincerity, and emotional commitment to the subject of grieving. One gets the sense that Deborah really  does know, at a very profound level, of the pain we suffer when we must say goodbye to someone we love." (
Carole Devereux, Alaska Wellness, March 2009 )

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. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Healing Arts Press (August 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594771596
• ISBN-13: 978-1594771590
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,153 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.