Opening to Grief: Finding Your Way from Loss to Peace

“The book helps you meet loss on its own terms, not as a problem to be solved but as a sign of deep love.”—Megan Devine, author of It's OK That You're Not OK

All of us experience loss. Some of us have lost a spouse, a child, a parent, a beloved pet, a dear friend, or a neighbor. In the pandemic, we have lost hundreds of thousands of lives in the US and around the world. Many of us have lost our livelihoods. All of us have lost our familiar routines and textures of work, family, and community. And the losses are not over.

Opening to Grief is a companion to this tender time. With the demeanor and tone of a loving friend, the authors offer an invitation to grieve fully, to turn toward your emotions and experiences however they arise, and to follow your own path toward healing. The book explores the deep truth that grief and love are richly intertwined. Because we love, we grieve. And when we fully feel our sorrow, we open to loving ourselves and other beings more deeply.

Claire B. Willis is a clinical social worker working in the field of oncology and bereavement for more than 20 years. She’s a former staff member of the Wellness Community, a national organization, and cofounder of the Boston nonprofit Facing Cancer Together. For more than two decades, she has led bereavement, end-of-life, support, and therapeutic writing groups. She has co-taught Spiritual Resources for Healing the Mind, Body, and Soul at Andover Newton Theological School. She maintains a private practice in Brookline, Massachusetts. As a lay Buddhist chaplain ordained by Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, she focuses on contemplative practices for end-of-life care. For the past five years, she has been a student of Koshin Paley Ellison, a founding teacher at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

Marnie Crawford Samuelson is a documentary photographer, multimedia producer, and storyteller. Her photographs have appeared in national magazines and in two books: Lasting Words, with Claire Willis, and The Wild Braid, with poets Stanley Kunitz and Genine Lentine. She has directed and photographed several short films. She lives in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and Berkeley, California.