Click Here To Purchase Sacred Grief

Author: Leslee Tessmann

ISBN: 978-1-932690-53-8

Tessmann takes a new look at the grief process. We are complicated human beings and live in such “complicated times,” that “today’s losses are no longer as simple as they once were.” It’s a relationship with our grief – not just the process. It’s embracing the grief – defining that fine line between “understanding the grief process and actually experiencing the grief process.”

Ms. Tessmann outlines her personal case of grief – “moving from Houston to Seattle in 2003 and uprooting myself from one community to another, and then with the death of my father in 2004, my experience of grief took on a completely different context. I shifted from relating to the grief process as something to survive, and instead began the journey of learning to relate to it as “sacred.” By sacred, I mean giving reverence and respect to every precious moment and experience.”  

Most believe grief to be “inconvenient, overwhelming, and something to be managed or controlled.” We suffer “weight gain, weight loss, hair loss, insomnia, increased drinking, unresolved depression, physical exhaustion caused by a ferocious need to keep busy with anything that would distract me from dealing with whatever was happening, and relationships based primarily on my desire to escape the discomfort of pain, anxiety, and fear.”

No matter what sort of loss you have encountered – “early pregnancy, marriage, divorce, parenting, recovery from alcoholism, geographic moves, long periods of unemployment, deaths of friends, family members, and pets,” Tessmann claims to have “learned over time” there are “different ways that I can relate to grief, and ultimately I am the one who gets to choose and create that relationship.” 

This is an honest look at grief – the stories we tell ourselves, including the detachment, the emotional roller coaster, and the warts associated with grief.  We learn the language necessary to build a relationship with grief so that we may use it in other relationships.

Forget what you learned about grief. Embrace each emotion and hold grief as sacred. In the back of the book is a self-reflection study guide. It’s personal and the questions are extremely helpful. And when the pain gets uncomfortable – seek help through grief counseling and support through friends and family members. Not everyone can work through the tasks of grief alone – nor should we.

Highly recommended!

The above review was contributed by: Sue Vogan: Sue is a Writer & Author of NCO-No Compassion Observed: To read more of Sue's reviews Click Here