Anyone who has mourned the death of a loved one yearns to remember - but memories hurt, so we often diligently work at forgetting by keeping busy, playing mind games to avoid thinking, speaking or listening to anything or anyone who reminds us of our loved one. After Debbie died, I wanted desperately to remember - but couldn't without pain, guilt and anger. What freedom when I discovered grief work and learned ways to remember without drawing on my familiar jargon or withdrawing to a safe environment in order to cope. It was only then that I understood I had lost time with Debbie, as I had used my energies to run away.
This is a story of a journey - a grief journey, a faith journey - a part of life's journey. I talked myself out of publicly telling this story for thirty years. However, when I meet with grieving families to intentionally walk them through the grief process, I am reminded that society places the same expectations; friends and family are still helpless; the public plays the same games; and parents use the same words that I did in those grieving years. It was in helping people struggle for understanding that I concluded that my journey must be shared. Share my footprints in the snow through WinterGrief - it will make the journey easier.
"The person who can most help you with your grief is someone who has been through it, has had time to reflect on the experience, to learn from it, and to use that experience in counselling others. Donna Mann is such a person, and her book WinterGrief will surely help you develop new insights into what you are going through, and how the process of grieving can - with time and grace - become a healing rather than hurting experience."
Jim Taylor - Author of many books, including Surviving Death: Healing and Growing through Grief; Everyday God.
"Donna gives her reader a courageous and well documented account of her grief process. This book will gently provide a guide for anyone who is grieving.
Eric Cline - Grief Institute of Canada, Cambridge, Ontario http://www.grief-recovery.com/index.html
"We have many books on our library shelves, but none with the personal and honest reflection of the grief process that Donna has provided in WinterGrief. Thank you."
Patti McCulloch - The McCulloch Funeral Home, Durham, Ontario
REVIEW - JULY 2003: The book frequently touches on the author's spiritual journey but never dwells there. It focuses instead on her journey through grief. It makes no attempt to "spiritualise" death; no pretence that some great good is disguised in the loss. It vigorously refutes shallow and time-worn platitudes, such as: "God needed another angel," that are intellectually empty and emotionally unsatisfying. Yet the book speaks strongly of good memories and rich growth birthed out of the deep pain. The author never attempts to answer the unanswerable "Why's???" She does attempt to answer - "How do we go on from here?" with gentle insight and loving wisdom of one who has walked this painful road. . . . Brian Austin, Hanover
Grief, the most persistent of human emotions, besets all of us during life's journey. While we can never avoid its onset following the death of a loved one, few of us know how to deal with it, to minimize its disruptions, and work through it to regain our emotional stability Many times when it springs from non-death circumstances, like financial, personal, or job loss, we don't even recognize it. . . .how Donna turned those scars into stars is the main theme of the book. She passes on to us the things she learned so that we can avoid the pitfalls of poor response to grief - not that we will escape grief, but that we make it a growth point in our lives. Ray Wiseman, Guelph (click for full review)
Thanks to the following writers who have encouraged me in my writing journey.
The following links will take you to their web sites.
