Good Grief: Daily Meditations - A Book of Caring & Remembrance

This book is dedicated to those who have lost loved ones and whose hearts are broken. The thoughts and experiences contained in Good Grief are meant to soothe the pain of grief, which is unimaginable to those who have not experienced such loss.

Friends often gather at the time of death and then, as the weeks and months go by, they slip away. It’s in our nature to find it more comfortable to attend a memorial service than to sit beside a friend who is experiencing their sixth month of grieving. We do not know what to say. Most often we say nothing. This book lets people know they can help each other not feel so alone after losing a loved one.

For years we have been told those who grieve should accept their loss and move on. But we are ill-equipped to stop loving someone who has been important in our lives. This is something most of us cannot do. Our memories contradict the notion the deceased do not exist anymore. We remember those who have passed on and experience them in our everyday lives with a sense of awe, connectedness and joy. This book shows us how we can continue expressing our love for them. We learn that awareness of the continuity of life after death opens the door to a continued relationship with a loved one.

Most pages contained in Good Grief have three sections. The segment at the top of the page is a statement to help the reader think more expansively about death. The boxed section is an affirmation the reader may contemplate each day. The third section contains a quote that validates the mourners’ feelings by letting them know they are not the only ones who feel the way they do. Progression through the three parts will lead readers to sort out truths and gain an awareness of the eternal spirit with whom they may commune.

Susan Schoenbeck has been a nurse for more than forty years, working in ICUs, emergency rooms, long-term care facilities for the elderly, and group settings for the developmentally disabled. She has taught PN and RN nursing programs and has mentored graduate students. Her work has been published in many peer-reviewed journals. In her books, The Final Entrance: Journeys Beyond Life and Near-Death Experiences: Visits to the Other Side, Schoenbeck reports experiences of patients who had out-of-body and near-death events. She has received the Universal Voice Award and the Ron Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award.

Schoenbeck grew up in Wisconsin and lives in Portland, Oregon, where she teaches nursing at Carrington College. She is an oblate of the Holy Wisdom Monastery, which follows the Rule of Benedict. She is a past president of the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, a national honor society for nurses, and a member of the International Association for Near-death Studies.