A Beautiful Grief

Facing life after loss with peace.

by Cheryl Eckl

Elder Grief: The Hidden Burden of Advanced Age

Recent experiences with the declining health of my 93-year-old mother cause me to consider that perhaps even worse than dying young is living to be very old, with little quality of life due to several serious ailments, but not being sick enough to leave this world. Read More

Is It Really Denial?

Over the past several days I have had occasion to speak to two individuals about the concept of denial. Which got me to thinking about how loosely the term is used and how careful we need to be in ascribing the behavior to someone else. Read More

More Than a Feeling

Through the deaths of two husbands and a daughter, I have learned that 'Grief' is not just a feeling, but a skill. And though death seems an inconvenient time to practice, it is a time to begin to gracefully embrace something that we all share in common. Read More

Risking Recovery from Grief

As with any experience that propels us into a luminous awareness of life's deepest mysteries, we must eventually step back from the brink, integrate what we have learned at the cliff edge, and get back to our work in the world—that can seem so very dull in comparison. Read More

Give Us This Day Our Daily Grief

For at least three years after my husband's death, grief was my one true guide and the guardian of my process for moving forward in life. Thank goodness grief knew where it was taking me, because I didn't have a clue. Read More

The Mystery of Letting Go

In order for holding not to be grasping we must also hold a conversation with the Unknown that begins with what we think we know and journeys into the misty realms of the present and future that do not readily identify themselves. Read More

What to Do About Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day weekend—which always brings up for widowed persons the question of loving again after loss. Clearly, this is a matter I have avoided because, in surveying my present circumstance, I realize that I have replaced my husband with Apple products, not with a sentient being. Read More

Maintaining the Thread of Contact

He was fascinated by life after death and eagerly worked to prepare himself for the journey. It's almost as if he saw himself parachuting into a new world. He wanted to hit the ground running and immediately begin to explore his new surroundings. Read More

Overcoming Blocks to Healing Grief

The grief process is like nature's secret weapon because in our helplessness we become malleable. It's the giving up part that is most important. Read More

Life Is Good: A Holiday Message from Loki & Leela

We are meant to eventually come back out into the sunshine of life. And I can say with confidence that really "working your grief" and allowing it to work on you is one very powerful way through to the other side of sorrow. Read More

Coping with Grief at the Holidays

If we can drill into the essence of what makes a good holiday, are there activities or behaviors that we can incorporate, even if we've been hit with a grief scenario that naturally makes us contract? Read More

What Does It Mean to Be Grateful?

In order to fully experience the joy and love of pleasant gratitude, we must be willing to also breathe in the heartache that Life may send us. Read More

How Much Love Have You Let in Today?

I think one reason we may be literally starving in the very presence of a universal love banquet is that we are picky eaters. Read More

Finding Beauty in Grief

The grief journey is a bit like walking the alleyways of life. It's a solo trip because we are the ones who must do the work of reframing what has been lost. If a ray of sunshine flickers in our alley, we have to find it ourselves. Read More

What Is the Meaning of Meaning?

If life has ongoing purpose, does it mean that we have something to look forward to? That we haven't already experienced "as good as it gets?" And what does that mean? Read More

Singing While It Is Still Dark

Faith is a bird that feels the dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark. Read More

The Art of Letting Go, Part 3

"I'll be looking at the stars, but I'll be seeing you." That's the art of letting go. Read More

The Art of Letting Go, Part 2

If we learn anything from Steve Jobs, I hope it will be to live well, love well, and then to eventually let go well—even of life itself. Read More

The Art of Letting Go, Part 1

One of my great joys this past year has been allowing grief to unfold naturally. The comfort comes from letting go, not in prematurely forcing something to go away because society's rule said that I should. Read More

Creating Conditions for Connecting with the Other Side

The alpha female wolf approached, looked my friend in the eye, and lay down at her feet. The wolf had chosen the quiet one, not the one who hungered after connection. Read More

Offering Comfort to Those Just Beginning the Journey with Grief

Had he been with me all the time but I wasn't letting him through? Just like the move "Ghost," but this story is true. Read More

Resolving Loss Through Reconnection

As we share in the personal and national loss that occurred on September 11, 2001, I hope my experience of reconnecting with my deceased husband brings comfort to those who mourn. Read More

Wake Up, Shake It Off, Let the Grieving Begin

I was back in the event, but this time not trapped. I was fighting back, getting away, no longer a helpless victim. The frozen trauma energy released and I gained the power to overcome the aggressors. I was free. Read More

Heal the Trauma, Then the Grief

Wake the tiger, thaw the inner frozen gazelle, and heal the traumatized who grieve. Read More

Weighing In On Grief

I always envied the skinny widows—the ones who lost their appetite from grief. They may be sad but they look great in their clothes. Read More

Rising from the Ashes of Bereavement Burn-out

Road runner or phoenix? Which will you be in the process of grieving profound loss? Read More

Burn-out in Bereavement

Even if you're not working too hard while in mourning, bereavement can cause the same symptoms as burn-out. If loss has turned up the heat in your life, you may be getting fried from grief. Read More

A Twinkle of Mirth in Mourning

People like humor—we know that. It triggers sparkling little endorphins that make us feel better. But it is possible or appropriate to be humorous when discussing grief? Read More

Cheryl Eckl is the author of A Beautiful Death: Facing the Future with Peace.

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About A Beautiful Grief

Cheryl Eckl is an author, speaker, and transformational life coach. A Beautiful Grief is her ongoing conversation with the process of loss and change.