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Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief

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"Sacred Grief" is one women's discovery of her `sacred' self among the chaos of her life. The author, Leslee Tessman, shares the knowledge she gathered through her years of good and bad life changing events (rape, alcoholism, divorce and death).

The author writes in a simple manner that allows you to reflect what she is saying to how it pertains to your own life. The chapters in the book; Power of Language, Mischief, Authenticity, Middle Way, Compassion and Making Waves, cover the topics of how she created a sacred life for herself. She very openly states that she is not `telling' us this we should believe or follow what she says, but hopes the understanding of what she has learned may help someone who might need a different approach to overcome grief. She includes an appendix of self reflection questions to ask yourself as you read each chapter.

Ms. Tessman state in the book "I shifted from relating to the grief process as something to survive, and instead began the journey of learning to relate to it as `sacred.' By sacred, I mean giving reverence and respect to every precious moment and experience." These few words turned on a light bulb in me and I realized how true these words are to my life. After the loss of my husband, I felt thrown in to the cycle of getting `through' the grieving stages and getting on with life, but everyone is different in how they handle grief. This book helped me understand to love the days I had with my husband and consider them a sacred part of my life. Also, that grief is in our lives more than just in death. It is a part of our lives more than we might think, which is why living a sacred life is important to every day living.

I would recommend anyone that has had any type of grief in their lives to consider reading this book. This book gives another option to those looking for answers at the time of grief. It might even give you a `ah-ha' moment to reflect upon!

**Thank you to Love Healing Press for the Review Book Copy

Length:: 3:23 Mins

Here's a quick three-minute video explaining some of the basic ideas behind Sacred Grief and how it can help you and your loved ones.

Sacred Grief is one woman's journey to self-understanding. The author makes a great effort to analyze her losses and fears and to make sense of the disabling grief that is felt at different times of her life.

Leslie Tessmann is able to delve deep down into her being to make sense of it all and therefore live a more peaceful life. This book gives hope, through understanding, to those who suffer from depression as well as feelings of grief, guilt and imminent doom.

I recommend this book to all who find themselves devastated by the sudden loss of a loved one. Use this book as a map to navigate through the retrospection, the grief, the feeling of being at loose ends. This book will help to understand and build a different life.

Gunta Krasts Voutyras

In "Sacred Grief" Leslee Tessmann relates her spiritual journey into self discovery. She tells of moving from unresolved grief into an awareness and acceptance of the comfort and healing that came when she made a conscious commitment to bringing a sacred context into all of her life.

Her story includes incidents that led to emotional trials and stress that resulted in anger, guilt, sadness, loneliness, anxiety, sadness, and pain.
She experienced disappointment, self doubt, and uncertainty that left her drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

She recounts the process of her experience in exploring and exchanging a new dimension of comfort and healing as she worked through the process of loss, death, grief, and bereavement.

Leslee replaced the conventional approach to this anguish by accepting grief as sacred. She explains it this way: "Relating to grief as sacred is like watching a fabulous epic drama of my life unfold and I'm the star. I become curious and interested in each scene and want to stay with it until the very end. I find myself entertained, energized, and surprisingly content."

Leslee's father celebrated the adventure and mystery of death as he moved into the unknown during his final days. Leslee describes the pain of losing her father as "poignant moments of tenderness." Authenticity, compassion, generosity, and a global view have an impact in this spiritual journey of experiencing the rewards of "sacred grief."

I was intrigued with Leslee's concepts of self induced suffering, of the danger of losing the excitement and exploration of life as a child with the acquired judgment and assessment of the adult. She described how self pity, apathy and depression lead to exhaustion.

Along with a reminder that every moment is sacred Leslee reiterates the importance of expressing feelings, and of resolving issues from past relationships. Sacred relationships are based on mutual respect and the freedom to be fully self-expressed.

An important study guide is provided for use in individual study or with a support group. A comprehensive bibliography is also included.

Leslee leads the reader from chaos to peace as her story unfolds. Her
writing is gripping, grounded in reality, often profound, always insightful, dynamic, and sensitive.

"Sacred Grief" by Leslee Tessmann ISBN 978-1932690538
Review by Chris Phillips
Tessmann has written a how-to manual for changing perspective. Although she uses grief as the focus, she is really presenting a life changing process for living in the moment. Grief is an easy emotion to work with because most persons in society do not handle grief well even if they don't just totally ignore it.
Tessmann lived through several grieving processes but also through several other problems that have taught her what she expresses here. She relates her losses but particularly the loss of her father which prompted the writing of the book. Mostly this is how she dealt with grief and what obstacles she had to face.
Through guided meditation but mainly with simple and easy-to-do steps Tessmann shows how to apply lessons she learned in her relationship with grief to the reader's own grief and many other emotions as well.
Acknowledgments, a Preface and an Introduction, begin the process gently but convincingly for the reader to move from an antagonistic and negative relationship with grief into a productive and actually positive relationship with grief and many other "negative" emotions. Each title to the chapters moves the reader into another step in the process of living in the moment and dealing with grief as it comes to the reader.
Tessmann writes with a clear and logical mind. She illustrates enough from her own process of real life incidents to give valid and direct methods of turning negative reactions to grief into positive, growing reactions. Then as she completes her lessons for taking life one moment at a time, she provides an appendix that is in the form of a study guide with a complete bibliography following. Finally she has established a website ([...]) for forums and further discussion.
The editing and publishing of the book are superb with a good sized font used to allow reading without eye strain or other difficulties. The cover is attractive and the book the right size for library book shelves.
This book should be read by anyone and everyone. It should be a constant desktop accessory for ministers, counselors and any who want to help others with their grief and even with other life issues.
Published by Loving Healing Press, Inc. 5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105-9279 ([...]) (SRP $17.95/Amazon $15.80) Review copy sent by publisher.

Leslee Tessmann gives her readers the blessing of meeting someone honest--someone who has faced the negatives and positives of her real inner self. She has met head-on the ultimate reality: her own being, and she is willing to share her experience.

Her fresh concepts in dealing with the difficulties of both life and death instill courage so that we can be unafraid. As she presents her ideas, the reader derives assurance that everything is alright, that reality will not destroy us. The way things are, if they are dealt with, and not avoided, cause us to grow.

Sacred Grief is one of those very rare books that get you thinking and feeing in a new way and in the process of reaing, help you to review, reframe and let go. A must read for anyone who has experienced loss, and highly recommended reading to be prepared to deal with loss in an honoured and healthy way.

Many Books and articles have been written and shared on the subject of Grief. This is not an academic perspective but a personal perspective. It is represented by sharing a personal life experience and the "highs and lows" of life itself as it relates to Grief. This book and its message is a simple view on a complex and emotionally charged subject. As a result of reading this book, the reader evolves into a "hopeful" way of being and an intimate relationship with the Grief and therefore coexist with the Grief in a positive and healthy manner. Given time and distance the Grief can be a "Teacher" and a "Friend".

Sacred Grief presents a message that is not often heard in Western culture; this message is one that touts the importance of living in the present. Where grief is concerned, the author writes that we need to respect it and experience it when it is present, but we are not to indulge it or suppress it. How are we supposed to view grief? Summed up nicely in chapter eight, we need to experience it, realize it has an honorable purpose, and accept that it is supposed to be a part of our life, but it is not supposed to consume our life. A word of advice on chapter eight, if you are in a hurry to get right through this book and skip right to that chapter, you will miss out on some important concepts the author discusses earlier in the book. It would be difficult to get the full impact of this chapter with out understanding how the author worked up to it. Also, don't be fooled, like I was, in thinking you will be able to read this book in one day. It may be small (only 172 pages) but it carries a lot of weight. I had to read it twice, and could have even read it a third time as the author provides many fresh and intriguing ideas for consideration. I would suggest this book for any one that is currently in the grieving process, but I would also suggest it for some one currently removed from the grieving process. Being armed with the information in this book would help a person when they do face that inevitable and sacred part of life, grief over some type of loss.

The most devastating thing in anyone's life - the death of a close loved one. "Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief" is an examination of the long term psychological effects of the grieving process and if there's more to it than most people seem to see as they go through the process, an extra element that can help readers recover from their loss much quicker. "Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief" is highly recommended to anyone looking deep into the effects of grief and for community library self-help collections.