I was sent these two wonderful grief poems by a lady who referred to herself as Jenny. She had just heard them at a family funeral and thought that we may find some comfort in them…..thank you Jenny for sharing
In Our Hearts
We thought of you with love today.
But that is nothing new.
We thought about you yesterday.
And days before that too.
We think of you in silence.
We often speak your name.
Now all we have is memories.
And your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake.
With which we’ll never part.
God has you in his keeping.
We have you in our heart..
author unknown
Four Candles
The …read more

Now a fact not many of you will know but I am absolutely phobic about birds….chickens to be precise but it has now widened to all birds. This phobia stemming from a wonderful cockerel which pecked me beautifully on the knee when I was a youngster.
I digress…
But suffice to say that I never really feel as though I have a lot in common with birds. However, I was reading a wonderful article about magpies and how they suffer grief as well. Wow, you don’t really think of birds as being in pain do you?
“Dr Bekoff said he studied four magpies …read more

For the telephone session I am going to send you all a calendar so we can plan when we can all be together….so it won’t be on Sunday. The joys of arranging a session with friends all across the world – but hey it will be worth it.
In the meantime I thought I would share another grief poem that I saw at a funeral this week
Life Unbroken
Death is nothing at all.
I only slipped into the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still…
Why should I be out of mind becuase I …read more

First of all I will send the details for our Widows Quest support group out on Friday, ahead of the Sunday conversation. Don’t forget to let me know if you want to join in by emailing me at anna@theengagingbrand.com
Yesterday I was at another funeral and they read out a poem called She Is Gone which really made me think about grief and how to cope with the loss of a loved one.
She is Gone
You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back
or you can …read more

Warning…deep post but in a thinking not depressed sense
At the funeral today of the wonderful Lucy, I sat in the pew pondering what really is the point of life?
We are born, wishing our time away until we can be a grown up and do grown up things
We leave home and have to work to pay for basic needs
We then have families which need our time
We then start losing the people around us
We then stop working and look forward to retirement…and so often we die!
We seem to spend all our lives believing that enjoyment is just round the corner …read more

I watched the funeral of the reality TV star, Jade Goody today. Jade died of cervical cancer at the young age of 27. Jade loved being a star and I couldn’t help thinking the one person who would really love the day would be Jade herself….
It made me think how the one person who probably misses the funeral the most, is always the person we are saying goodbye to… It made me think how I would love to be truly at my own funeral. I would love to see the effect I had on peoples lives, I would love to …read more

On Widows Quest I often say how I want my funeral to be a celebration of my life not a morbid affair which upsets my nearest and dearest. I want to find my own “perfect” funeral so that no one has to worry about arrangements when I am gone, or wonder what I would have wanted. Isn’t it strange how being ill, makes you think about your own mortality?
I came across an article at Trendhunters about “An entrepreneur named Lynn Isenberg has brought new life to death with novel, personalized funerals” For example,

A funeral for a lifelong golf enthusiast, for …read more

In a week in which we remembered 9/11 and fought our own emotions for our loss…. we need to start this coming week by reading the articles that will help us think positively about the future. Thank you for the biggest amount of articles ever! If you want to submit one remember to submit your positive thinking article here.

Nicholas Powiull presents Conscious Flex: How to Stay Positive in Negative Situations: by Nicholas Powiull posted at Conscious Flex, saying, “I hope this helps, I am sorry to hear about your loss”
Anna presents Remember Tomorrow Never Comes at The Engaging Brand

Peter …read more

I remember arranging the funeral service and the array of emotions that flooded my body. I remember feeling completely stupid as I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do, I remember wishing I had a resource to turn to…well, I came across The Daily Undertaker blog, written by Patrick McNally who describes says 
“For me, funeral service is an opportunity to serve families and help them through a very difficult time. Funeral directors need to listen carefully and ask the right questions in order to meet the different needs of different families. Families place their trust in us to …read more

One day you are a loving spouse, the next you are on your own. One day you are one part of a couple, the next you are single. I think the hardest part is finding the real you again. Who are you? How do you find a way of thriving on your own?

Don’t be scared of being on your own to think. Use the time to think about YOU. One tip I was given was to write the speech you would want someone to make at your funeral, then create an action plan that brings that speech to reality.
Write down …read more