Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief (Paperback)

by Martha W. Hickman (Author) "When we are drawn into the brotherhood or sisterhood of loss, tenderness seems to be our natural state..." (more)
Key Phrases: fresh grief, Holy One, Paying Attention, Great Spirit

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, here are strength and thoughtful words to inspire and comfort.

About the Author
MARTHA WHITMORE HICKMAN is the author of more than twenty books for adults and children. Among her adult titles are The Growing Season, Fullness of Time, and I Will Not Leave You Desolate. Books for young children include And God Created Squash, When Andy's Father Went to Prison, and Eeps Creeps, It's My Room.

A native of Massachusetts and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mount Holyoke, she has lived in the south for many years. To her writing she brings the additional perspective of being a wife, mother, grandmother, and sometime editor and teacher. She presently lives with her husband in Nashville, Tennessee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Collins Living; 1 edition (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380773384
• ISBN-13: 978-0380773381
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,509 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #6 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Alternative Medicine > Meditation
  #7 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Devotionals
  #10 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Death & Grief > Grief & Bereavement

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

143 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tiny shafts of light in the darkness..., August 13, 2003

By	Lorelee Christensen (Tri-Cities, Washington State) - See all my reviews

"Healing After Loss" was given to me after the sudden and unexpected death of our 14 year old son in March. The loss is so terrible and unimagined. We have struggled to go through each day without our only child, our wonderful son.
The friend who gave me the book had lost both her parents and her maternal grandparents within a 10 year span. She actually brought over her own dog-eared copy saying that I needed it now and she didn't have time to get a new one. Since then I have ordered my own as well as copies for my parents, Aunts and Uncles and friends.
This book has incredibly insight, hope, understanding and some new ideas delivered in small doses (the tiny shafts of light in the darkness). Since concentration levels are so affected during grieving, the one page entries are easy to read or skip, if you need a one that will more fit your moment. With grief, at least for me, it seems like my mood and outlook can change so much within a couple days - this book fills many needs.
Although my husband hasn't read it like I have, I will now and again give him a page to read that is particularly insightful for us at that moment and it can, however briefly, help him as well.
At first I read what ever I turned to when I opened it, then I read all the dates that were significant to me, now I am reading it like a daily diary. Last week I was talking to my friend, she has a copy, and although she listened she didn't feel she had an answer for me. Later, she called back giving me a page in the book to read - it was so completely accurate for that moment and feeling - I felt a bit of strength after reading the page.
I cannot say enough about the author and her grace, strength and ability to comfort. She wrote another very small book called "I Will Not Leave You Desolate" that I would recommend as well.
If you are purchasing this for yourself, I am so sorry for your loss - I know something of the dark, sad and surreal world that appears without the one you loved. I hope this book can be of some comfort to you as it was for me. Of course this is only one tiny shaft of light in the darkness, but I am grateful for each one. If you are getting it for a friend or family member, bless you and your efforts to be there.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a Godsend since I lost my husband two years ago, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

I was dealing with the devastation and loss of my husband after a fight with the evil cancer. I did not want to live. My whole life changed and I would have done anything to have him back. But, I kept living and I couldn't get him back no matter what. This book has had a profound affect in helping me deal with and get through this painful phase called grieving. The writings of 365 different people and days describes so effectively the feelings and reality of what grief is. I still read it daily. So many of the comparisons hit home. I have bought it for two friends who have recently lost loved ones. I highly recommend it to any grieving person who needs to understand the emotional and painful process they are going through. You aren't alone.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Working Through Grief Daily, April 9, 2005

By	Louise C. Stone (Sunland, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Is anyone ever ready to lose a love one -- no matter the age or devastation of illness? I know I was not. My husband was and still is a most important person in my life. I felt totally disconnected when he died and still struggle with it daily. If not for this wonderful book of daily meditations, there are days when getting out of bed would have been more than I could do. 6 months after Jack's death, I am now able to occasionally notice the lovely blue sky, hear the birds signing, and feel the sun on my face. My grief therapy is only effective in the slow healing of this grievous wound in my soul with the daily reminders in this compilation by Hickman and being encouraged to recall the wonderfulness of Jack, my husband, my best friend, my life love.