Using storytelling to deal with grief
were walking through mud – it was draining, heavy work for us – but... normal”. This section ends with the simple statement: “Our work continues.”
Talking to those facing their own death can be the most moving. Samuel first sees dapper, 85-year-old Gordon in his hospice and maintains contact until, finally, she knows she must say goodbye, but doesn’t know how.
Gordon himself helped, “‘Watch yerself’, he said, as he gave me a hug. I repeated the same words back to him.” Such simplicity, but with the hug they said it all. A few weeks later Gordon was dead.
Who is this deeply affecting book aimed at? Everybody. Every day, thousands of people are bereaved.
Samuel warns that research studies show “unresolved grief is at the root of psychiatric referrals” and notes that the fear surrounding the last great taboo “is largely caused by a lack of knowledge”.
So what do we all need to know? Samuels explains, “It is not the pain of grief that damages individuals... but the things they do to avoid that pain.”
The key point is that grief must be acknowledged. Repeatedly, she introduces us to those who, at the worst moment in their lives, felt required to make it all right for those around them.
“I don’t know what to say,” is the lazy response to the grief of others. But she points out, “Really listening to someone is just as important as talking to them.”
The work of dealing with the purest human sorrow is this author’s vocation, and what makes her book special are the personal anecdotes that permeate the pages.
Don’t wait until you suffer loss to read Grief Works – because being prepared, and able to help others, is essential to our humanity. – Daily Mail