Have you ever woken up with your heart pounding and thoughts racing in the middle of your grief and wondered, am I the only one who feels this way? Have you gone through the motions of a day, numb and in a daze, and thought, is this normal? Have you replayed your loss over and […]
Finding hope while suffering might sound at first like the platitudes we get tired of hearing. “Look on the bright side!” or “At least you still have your health!” are not the silver linings well-intentioned people think they are—not when struggles like loss, depression, and anxiety have such a life-altering impact. But hope doesn’t mean […]
You may have heard of the difference between the resume virtues and the eulogy virtues. The resume virtues are skills and accomplishments in the marketplace. What prestigious school did you attend? What corporate rank did you reach? How hard did you work? The eulogy virtues are deeper. They are the qualities people will talk about […]
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” – Muhammad Ali More than 300 student-athletes sat with rapt attention in a Baltimore convention center this weekend at the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, watching the Hearts of Hope team begin their presentation with this Muhammad Ali quote. After learning about […]
JD Hawkins was a beloved high school teacher and coach in New Mexico when one of his student athletes fulfilled the dream that every coach hopes for them—he was recruited to play football at the collegiate level. JD and the school community cheered this young man on as he went through the recruitment process. But […]
How can thinking about your legacy bring more meaning to your life now? Most of us probably don’t think we need to consider our legacies until we’re older, wiser, and have accomplished many of the things we dream of in life. We think of a legacy as a gift or inheritance, or something extraordinary that […]
We are honored to share the story of our visit to True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo, NY. As we distributed more than 300 hand-painted hearts in support of the community’s grief after the terrible shooting at Tops Market, we heard many stories of the choices people made to honor their loved ones, lean on […]
When things seem so out of control, what do we do? This is the question that everyone who experiences loss must face, and as Judy Pedersen found while leading a grief support group, the first step can come from the most unexpected places. One young mom came in who had recently lost her husband. They […]
When something painful happens that is outside our control, like the death of a loved one, a terrible accident, or a global pandemic, we often start to rethink our understanding of the world and how we function in it. If we live in such an unpredictable and often unfair place, how can we control what […]
Holidays and special celebrations—whether the kind that leave stores decorated for months, the ones that your family finds special significance in, or personal celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries—can be one of the most unpredictable and difficult times of the year for grievers. Here are some tips for coping with holiday grief, including Kenneth Doka’s “3 […]
