“Healing Grief… Moment by Moment” is a podcast created and produced by HOPE Connection. In each short episode Dr. Jo Christner or another HOPE Connection therapist offers a meditative exploration of a different aspect of grief and the healing process. As you listen, we wish you love, light and comfort.
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Grief Support Groups Serving West Los Angeles, Encino and Agoura Hills
Grief Support Groups Serving West Los Angeles, Encino and Agoura Hills
We always hear feedback from our members and graduates of our programs about how positively Hope Connection has affected their lives. I offer, at this time, my own personal perspective of how Hope Connection has affected mine from a facilitator’s point of view.
“Healing Grief… Moment by Moment” is a podcast created and produced by HOPE Connection. In each short episode Dr. Jo Christner or another HOPE Connection therapist offers a meditative exploration of a different aspect of grief and the healing process. As you listen, we wish you love, light and comfort. This episode: “Grieving Alone” (April 2025) — Jo Christner, Psy.D.
To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die. A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal. A time to laugh, a time to weep.
A time to build up, a time to break down. A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones. A time to gather stones together.
A time of love, a time of hate. A time of war, a time of peace.
A time you may embrace. A time to refrain from embracing.
A time to gain, a time to lose. A time to rend, a time to sew.
A time of love, a time of hate. A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late.
— Turn, Turn, Turn by Pete Seeger, based upon the book of Ecclesiastes
There is so much truth in these lyrics. The process of grieving, with all its ups and downs, mirrors the seasons. There is the darkness of winter grief, with tears in the night, then smiles as the warm summer sun brings the light and recollection of joyful times remembered.
Do you ever get an intuitive feeling, a little voice in your head, that tells you to do something, say something, that is completely out of your comfort zone? Have you ever acted on that feeling? Maybe you should, says Bill Hart, in this short but compelling video — Shoulder Taps.
“Raindrops on Roses and whiskers on kittens.
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.”
You probably recognize those song lyrics from Sound Of Music. It is easy to dismiss that song as a bit of tuneful fluff with charming images. Another way of viewing it is as a gem of musical wisdom on how to survive the tough times of life.
Struggling with regret after a loss is an aspect of grief that many people experience. Take Eliot, for example (not his real name). Reflecting on his state of mind after his wife died, he said, “I have so much regret. I can’t stop thinking about it.” He was tormented by feelings of remorse and guilt. It had been over a year since his wife died, and his regrets had never abated. His wife had been ill for several years and, with help from caregivers, he took care of her. “I wasn’t present enough for my wife,” was one of his laments. “And sometimes, when I got frustrated, I wasn’t always nice. On the final night I left the room for a while, and she died. She must have wanted me there, and I wasn’t.”
It’s a common question: What is life like after two years of grief?
This question is similar to questions you might have asked earlier. What happens during the first year? What happens after one year of grief? What happens during the second year? These are markers of time, yet grief does not always know what time it is.
As an experienced traveler in this journey of grief, I have many unwelcome visitors: doubt, fear, sorrow, remorse, anger and guilt, to name a few. But the one visitor that seems to plague me the most, the one that has been the most successful in binding me up, the one that has been the most tenacious and unwelcome, is loneliness.
Stories have always been part of our lives. There are the fairy tales from childhood with so many different versions. People of all ages have sat around a campfire sharing stories. We listen to the news easily overwhelmed by “spin” as we try to make sense of endless commentary.
We are story tellers with a running dialogue about what happened, how we are doing and our concerns for the future. Our stories become part of our ongoing self-talk that impacts the quality of our lives. Notice the ways you relate to any of the following themes following a death of a partner. Notice the quotes from others who have gone through a deep loss.
There has been such tremendous and overwhelming loss to our Los Angeles community. Every single person has been touched on some deep level with their own loss and the tremendous and overwhelming losses of others. Lost homes, lost lives, lost pets, lost belongings, lost wildlife and Nature, a lost sense of safety and personhood. Those who have not lost their homes may feel blessed and yet deeply grieve for those who did, fearing that they could be next. Belief systems have been tested. How could this possibly be happening? It’s hard to feel safe anymore. We may not personally know someone who has lost a home but everyone’s heart has been broken from the pain, sorrow and tremendous suffering on such a huge scale.