Opening to Grief: Finding Your Way from Loss to Peace

A warm and wise companion for anyone facing grief and sorrow All of us are experiencing loss. Some of us lose a spouse, or a child, our parents, a beloved pet, a dear friend, or neighbor. In the pandemic, we have lost tens of thousands of lives in the United States and around the world. Many of us have lost our livelihoods. All of us have lost our familiar daily routines and textures of work, family, and community. And the losses are not over. Opening to Grief is a companion to this tender time. With the demeanor and tone of a loving friend, the authors offer an invitation to grieve fully, to turn toward your emotions and experiences however they arise, and to choose a path that is healing for you. Opening to Grief explores the deep truth that grief and love are richly intertwined. Because we love, we grieve. And when we fully feel our sorrow, we open to loving ourselves and other beings more deeply.

About the Author :
Siiri Scott is the head of acting and directing in the Department of Film, Television and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame, where she coordinates classes, directs and prepares actors for graduate training and professional careers. She received her MFA in Acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University and has directed, performed and taught in regional theaters in Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Seattle. Marnie Crawford Samuelson is a documentary photographer and a radio and multimedia producer. Her photographs are featured in The Wild Braid, a collaboration with poets Stanley Kunitz and Genine Lentine. She directs and photographs short films. Claire B. Willis is a clinical social worker working in the field of oncology and bereavement for more than twenty years. She's a former staff member of The Wellness Community, a national organization, and cofounder of the Boston nonprofit Facing Cancer Together. For more than two decades, she has led bereavement, end-of-life, support, and therapeutic writing groups. She has cotaught Spiritual Resources for Healing the Mind, Body, and Soul at Andover Newton Theological School. She maintains a private practice in Brookline, Massachusetts. As a lay Buddhist chaplain ordained by Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, she focuses on contemplative practices for end-of-life care. For the past five years, she has been a student of Koshin Paley Ellison, a founding teacher at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.