As the end of year approaches we hear the word "happy" a lot.
Happy Holidays, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year.
But this time of year is often anything but "happy" when it runs head long into memories of those who aren't with us. Grief runs deep. It is about yearning and missing. It's proof of our love.
You may have heard the phrase "processing loss." Therapy, counseling, grief groups and empathic people are essential in the journey to understand the complex experience of bereavement.
Sometimes we aren't able to have a session or a meet up when the pangs get strong.
I'd like to recommend a relatively recent podcast series: "All There Is with Anderson Cooper."
https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/all-there-is-with-anderson-cooper
In 2022, Cooper, a well known journalist and reporter, began to record his feelings as he was going through the belongings of his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, who had died in 2019.
With her, Cooper had suffered the sudden death of his father when he was 10 and the death of his older brother by suicide when he was 21. He had suppressed his grief for decades.
With his experience as a interviewer, Cooper has used the podcast to explore his own complex reactions while speaking with knowlegable therapists and with fellow travelers in grief. Some of the participants are well known to the public (i.e.,Stephen Colbert, Andrew Garfield, Whoopi Goldberg, Naomi Judd) and some not (i.e., Irene Weiss, a survivor of the Holocaust, Randy Shelin, father of a brilliant young man who died by suicide at 18.)
There are 3 seasons of episodes and, if prefered, you can also watch the discussions on CNN's You Tube channel. The URL for an episode with an author and leadership trainer on grief, Francis Weller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRWPA8oPyGs
Till next time, please take good care.
