• “The Thing Is”Instructions for embracing life after loss

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    “The Thing Is”
    Instructions for embracing life after loss



  • “The Darjeeling Limited”A film about three brothers navigating grief, estrangement, and the search for emotional closure

    “The Darjeeling Limited”
    A film about three brothers navigating grief, estrangement, and the search for emotional closure

    Francis (Owen Wilson), Jack (Jason Schwartzman), and Peter (Adrien Brody) Whitman are brothers meeting on a train in India. They have not seen or spoken to each other in a year, since the day of their father’s funeral. When we meet them, Francis’s head is wrapped in thick bandages, Jack is writing an autobiographical story…

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  • How to Help Someone Who is Grieving

    Experiencing a loss can profoundly affect a person, emotionally, mentally, and physically. If a family member or close friend has recently lost someone, it’s easy to feel helpless, and you may be uncertain how you should act around them. While you can’t make their pain go away, you can be there to support them and…

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  • Changing the Material

    Changing the Material

    Swedish industrial designer Liv Andersson aims to create products that are an adaptation to the environment, with a holistic view of the life of the product. This project, Dust to Dust, “aims to get a holistic picture of what happens to a person from the moment she dies till she is buried.” By incorporating sustainable…

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  • An Interview with Sherri Lynn Wood

    An Interview with Sherri Lynn Wood

    Read Part One of the interview, where Sherri guides us in the process of healing through quiltmaking. Dana: Do you explain the parallels between the quiltmaking process and the grief process in your workshops or with clients, or do you just let people have the experience? Sherri: I bring it up in a matter of…

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  • Looking at the essay, “The Love of My Life” by Cheryl Strayed
    A deeply personal essay reflecting on love, grief, and the lasting impact of loss

    “The first time I cheated on my husband, my mother had been dead for exactly one week.”  With this powerful statement, Cheryl Strayed begins her personal story of love, life, and death that could very well alter the way we think about the “traditional” grieving process.  On the surface, her story concerns the dissolution of…

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  • “I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.”

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  • Introducing SevenPonds Multimedia

    Introducing SevenPonds Multimedia

    As SevenPonds continues to grow, I am excited to announce the launch of the Multimedia section of our website. This is just one of the fabulous additions that we plan to roll out over the next few months to offer new ways for you to find end-of-life resources. Our Multimedia section includes custom videos, recommended…

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  • “Requiescat”Matthew Arnold's poem shows that death is the most enviable state

    “Requiescat”
    Matthew Arnold’s poem shows that death is the most enviable state

    I was reading about the famous poet and critic Matthew Arnold recently, and I discovered that he died of sudden heart failure while running to catch a tram. While this is of course tragic, I also had to appreciate the symbolism of it: we think we know what direction we’re headed, and yet, when it…

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  • Light on Aging and DyingHelen Nearing and Joan Didion Offer Us Their Thoughts

    Light on Aging and Dying
    Helen Nearing and Joan Didion Offer Us Their Thoughts

    I was recently rummaging through an old bookstore when I stumbled on a copy of the book Light on Aging and Dying, by Helen Nearing, written when she was a widow. I was familiar with Helen and her husband Scott’s seminal book, The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living, having…

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