Storytelling about Grief and Loss Menu

Grief and loss are a part of life. We all acknowledge and deal with our grief in different ways. Here are some quotations and insights about grief and loss. Use these in small group discussions, one-on-one conversations, or personal reflection.

Speaker and author Ted Bowman talks about grief as that space between our dreams and reality. Ted shared this example of looking at a person’s loss of dreams. Before the birth, or adoption, a mother and father create a dream of what it will be like having their child at home and raising them. Their dreams often include seeing their child(ren) do well in life, meeting a loving and caring partner/spouse, and may include thoughts of grandchildren. Their dream often begins to change that first night their child is home with them. Reality sets in as they learn how to care for their young child(ren); feeding, crying, sleepless nights, worrying, and so much more. Grief is found and experienced in that space between the parent’s dream for their child and the day-to-day reality (what is) of raising their child(ren).

I hope you find these helpful at this time of grief and loss.

The Well of Grief by David Whyte

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief... turning down through its black water to the place we cannot breathe... will never know the source from which we drink, the secret water, cold and clear,... nor find in the darkness glimmering the small round coins thrown by those who wished for something else." by David Whyte

When Death Comes by Mary Oliver

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse ... When it's over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

Let Yourself Rest by Jeff Foster

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"If you’re exhausted, rest. If you don’t feel like starting a new project, don’t. If you don’t feel the urge to make something new, just rest in the beauty of the old, the familiar, the known..."

Loss of Dreams – A Special Kind of Grief

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"A loss of dreams relates to images or pictures of our personal world that we create and to which we attach strong emotional investment…the way things are supposed to be." by Ted Bowman

Facing and Dealing with the Loss of Dreams

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

Six ways to face and deal with loss of dreams by Ted Bowman

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotation

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

“Nothing can fill the gap when we are away from those we love, and it would be wrong to try and find anything. We must simply hold out and win through..." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

David Whyte Poem

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions..." Everything is Waiting for You" by David Whyte

Disenfranchised Grief

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"“Disenfranchised grief: Someone has experienced a loss…but the survivors are not afforded the ‘right to grieve’…So, although the person experienced grief, that grief is not openly acknowledged, socially validated, or publicly observed.”

The Five Stages of Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

The Five Stages of Dying: 1. Denial, 2. Anger, 3. Bargining, 4. Depression, 5. Acceptance by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Ambiguous Loss

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

Understanding Ambiguous Loss. From, Ambiguous Loss – Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief, by Pauline Boss

"She Let Go" by Safire Rose

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"She let go. She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go. She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments..." by Safire Rose

Kahlil Gibran Quote

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

"Many of us spend our whole lives running from feelings with the mistaken belief that you cannot bear the pain. But you have already born the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are, beyond that pain." Kahlil Gibran

Six Types of Loss

Storytelling about Grief and Loss

Looking at Six Types of Loss. From, All Our Losses, All our Griefs, by Kenneth Mitchell and Herbert Anderson