I often wonder why this natural part of the life cycle is so taboo?

• Is it because we reject pain as human beings?
• Is it because it feels unnatural as we believe somehow we should live forever?
• Is it because the words associated with it – like loss – are negative or harsh sounding – like death?
• Is it because it makes us face our own mortality?
• Is it because there are no words that can express our grief, or the grief of others?
• Is it because we feel we should be able to cope with bereavement?

I would love to know your thoughts and how we can break this taboo because widows and widowers will only move through the grief cycle when they can talk openly, when they receive empathy, we they can be empathetic to their own feelings. The pain we all feel is natural, the pain we all suffer is understood….so how do we ensure that society can cope with the subject of death? If we can find that answer then we may find that we are all more prepared for the loss of loved ones around us.

Post from: Widows Quest

I have found that doing two things have helped me. I helped build a memorial in a garden, one that people could enjoy and reflected his life. For my dad I started blogging and podcasting about his ideas.

Somehow this kept the memories alive, it created a sense that they were still here helping the world as they would want. It took a little time before I could do this, but it also gave me a focus – a reason for living. That reason helped me through the dark days and through the enjoyment people got from them, helped me enjoy life again.

Post from: Widows Quest

Marijke who writes the wonderful Help My Hurt blog and as part of another site called Seniors Support has “designed a survey on living wills that I have a very ambitious goal for – 1000 responses. I have a little over 100 now …. I’m trying to get responses from all sorts of groups, from seniors themselves to gen x-ers, to the so-called sandwich generation and just about anyone else.

I wonder whether some of your readers would help me achieve my goal  or pass on news of the survey or know of some people who may want to do it. Anyway, the survey is at http://tinyurl.com/livingwills if you’d like to check it out .”

I hope we can help out and provide some great feedback.

Post from: Widows Quest

Grief really is a universal feeling, one that brings all people together. Blogging is like that too….some things that I have learned about the grief process over the last couple of weeks

• Nothing is like receiving comforting words from people who care and who understand.
• If you are open to support…you are never truly alone.  
• Time heals but hearts never forget
• No one knows the answers for grieving…..but we do know that the answers are different for each person.
• Talking about your feelings helps put things in perspective.
• As unique as we all are, when it comes to feelings are we really unique?

I want to thank you all for your support and kindness – here is a virtual hug to you all!

{iStockphoto}

Post from: Widows Quest

“Galba sleep tight, we will miss you hugely and thank you for leaving such wonderful emotional footprints all over the world”

 Galba was a wonderful, giving man.. what is strange is that I never met him, yet called him a friend. Isn’t that a strange part of social media, blogging, podcasting etc. I had interviewed him for my podcast about emotional intelligence only a couple of weeks ago…despite the thousands of miles between us, social media brought us together.

It also made me think about how blogging, podcasting is part of our legacy. When I die there will be my thoughts living on forever, an insight into how I thought, how I felt….for generations to come. Galba may have passed away but his voice lives on, his words live on….Maybe at the moment it would be too raw for his family, but I hope that they will provide comfort in the years ahead. I know I wish I could hear my loved ones voice again…it is one thing I miss the most.

In the meantime the blogosphere has lost a true gentleman, the world has lost a good heart….however the world is a better place..a “brighter” place for a little Galba magic 

Post from: Widows Quest

I love bringing tips and help to you all and if you know of a site that can help widows, widowers or people that have lost a long term partner then let me know. I believe the more we share, the more we understand our feelings, the more we think about how to move forward into a scary future then the better.

Post from: Widows Quest

You get the chance to write in 140 characters what you are doing, you can subscribe to other peoples comments and people can subscribe to yours. So why do I like it well, I never feel alone. If you want to try and follow my thoughts here is my twitter profile

http://twitter.com/Engagingbrand

Post from: Widows Quest

The holiday season is normally a tough time with many memories however this year I have found a new way of coping with grief – be ill and worry about your health!

I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful thoughts they sent me, I am sure everything will be fine   after next week…in the meantime I hope that you are coping well and whether I am blogging or not – I am thinking about you.

Post from: Widows Quest

We’re planning to run this event for approximately two weeks during the month of October (or until the prizes run out). And during that two weeks, we’ll be giving away some amazing prizes.

We’ve already come up with a few prizes of our own by way of previous product reviews, public relations contacts and more to give to readers but would like to supplement them with some other prizes and gifts from sponsors interested in being a part of this event where they could get a little attention and we can reward our loyal readers.

If you’d like to participate by offering a prize (in return for a little publicity throughout our channel) please email me with the following information in the following format:

1. email gayla AT b5media DOT com (substitute AT and DOT with the appropriate @ and .)
2. make the subject line ‘BLOGTOBERFEST PRIZE’
3. describe the prize you would like to offer (what is it and it’s value)
4. include a link to the prize if you have one – if not, a company website would be fine.
5. include your name, the link to the site you’d like us to link to in return for your prize and a graphic you’d like us to use along with your mention.

NOTE: While we would like to include as many prizes as possible – however, we won’t be able to accept every offer for whatever reason. We’d like to encourage prizes that are in line with at least one of our blogs content – so our readers will benefit the fullest from their participation.

Also note that our channel has an international audience and prizes need to be able to be received by readers around the world so please factor in that you’ll need to pay for any shipping if it’s won by an international reader unless otherwise specified or earmarked for specific distribution only.

Prize submissions will be accepted until Friday September 28th.

Prize Suggestions: Cash or gift certificates are always a plus, gadgets and random fun things. Electronics, books, memberships, toys and just about anything that is “suitable” to at least one of our blogs.

We’d rather keep this event unique, so things like ‘hosting packages’, services and ‘ebooks’ aren’t going to exactly be relevant to participants. The more fun and creative the contribution the better (and value is a real plus).

What do you get in return?

You’ll be getting promotion in return for your prize on a number of pages/posts throughout the entire channel that yields a high number of visitors daily and monthly.   Historically, once a contest of this magnitude is underway, you’ll probably get linked to from other blogs also as these events cause quite a stir around the blogosphere.

The better the prize the more attention you’ll get!

Now, let’s see just how creative some of you can be!

Post from: Widows Quest