Healing With Hope

04/05/2022

Due to some family circumstances, Healing with Hope will not be meeting in the month of April. We are very sorry for this inconvenience. We do ask that you keep our family in your thoughts and prayers right now.

03/14/2022

Healing with Hope is canceled tomorrow 3/14 due to family emergency. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

02/01/2022

Due to impending weather and illness, we WILL NOT be meeting tomorrow Feb 1st. Hope to see everyone the 15th. Stay warm and safe!!
Bob and Amanda

11/25/2021

Turkey With A Side Of Grief

Looking back on the Thanksgiving after my spouse died, I don’t regret spending that time with my family….but I do regret how we spent it.

There was of course the turkey and all the other food…none of which I felt like eating. The table was all couples….except me.

I looked up from my plate to see my brother put his arm around his wife and felt a tightening in my throat. He told her how thankful he was for her being by his side…and I escaped to the bathroom to cry alone.

Here’s the thing….it’s hard to accept a reality that you didn’t choose.

The holiday marketing machine has already roared to life; a new slew of holiday commercials and movies featuring a city girl or guy trying to save a small town business during the holidays, only to fall in love and live happily ever after.

But what about those of us…that didn’t get the “happily ever after”?

You see, the need for joy and celebration can’t erase or replace your sorrow, and your expression of gratitude or happiness isn’t confined to specific dates.

I believe the pain of grief hurts just as much on the holidays as it does every other day……the holidays just highlight it.

Here I am seven years after that horrible Thanksgiving, my holiday spirit has begun to realign…even though it’s still inextricably laced with grief and loss for me….like it is for so many people.

Remember this year that your grief and your gratitude are not in competition with one another. They don’t cancel each other out.

You need to make space for each of them…especially during the holidays.

May you find some peace and comfort today…I‘m truly thankful and honored to be walking this journey with you.

Gary Sturgis - “Surviving Grief”

10/18/2021

05/01/2021

The Weight of Grief

Grief is one of the most devastating experiences that any human being can face. This Sculpture by Celeste Roberge expresses so much about the heaviness and weight of grief, how it can feel so debilitating and overwhelming.

When you deeply love someone it sometimes becomes a double edged sword when you're faced with losing them. The more you love, the more painful the loss is felt.

Much of your future horizon becomes distorted, shrouded and hidden. All that remains, for a time, is the dominating awareness and heaviness of grief.

My experience of loss was difficult and painful in the face of my own grief. The weight of grief was particularly heavy for a few years.

Eventually, I chose to acknowledge, accept and welcome the truth.

Not because I’m crazy, but because I felt ready, in a safe place, to face my feelings of sadness and grief.

Since that time, I have begun to feel most of the weight of grief lifting like shafts of light into a very dark place. I'm sure there will be many moments when grief breaks into my awareness again.

But I feel more able now to very much agree with the well-worn phrase……"It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."

Gary Sturgis – “Surviving Grief”

04/11/2021

This week in group, we talked a lot about anger. I don’t share a lot of personal things on this page, but wanted to share today. Today... I’m sitting in anger. It’s National Siblings Day and I’m seeing all these pictures of people with their siblings. Laughing, hugging, being together. I am deeply happy for them. I’m a little jealous. But mostly I’m angry. Angry because I had to scroll nearly 6 years back in my pictures to find a picture of us. Angry because we can’t be hanging out. Angry about all that is missing.

Friends- whatever you are feeling in this journey, it’s right. It’s your journey. You are allowed to feel what you feel.—Amanda

04/04/2021

Some days, the grief is extra heavy. Especially on a holiday. Give yourself grace today, relish the memories, cry if you need to. And know you are loved 💕

03/28/2021

Grief is messy. Grief is hard. It’s isolating and irrational.

Healing with Hope is a place you can bring your hard. Bring your mess. And we will sit with you right there in the middle of it.

Our next meeting is Tuesday April 6th at 6:30.

Please message us or email healingwithhopegroup@yahoo.com if you have any questions.