It was just one day after Lindsay Collier's wife of forty years, Jan, lost her battle with ovarian cancer that a beautiful rainbow surrounded their home in upstate New York where family members were gathered to celebrate her life. Since that time there have been many amazing experiences that have provided some very compelling proof that Jan is not very far away. And Lindsay, a former engineer (engineers always need proof), is not one who is prone to fantasy which makes these occurrences all the more believable. He also tells about some other rather amazing experiences that he and his family have had following losses of other loved ones. These stories alone will make a believer out of you. But there is much more! Lindsay also found that, as he related these stories to friends and associates, he would often find that they would frequently offer their own stories about how lost loved ones had made contact with them. The stories were amazing and revolved around everything from dragonflies to birds to lights and clocks changing to things appearing out of nowhere. There are more than twenty-five of these included in the book, all of which will leave you feeling very good - and a little less lonely for those you have lost. Lindsay made a commitment to learn as much as he could from his loss and to help others to find ways to survive their loss. He has spoken to a number of bereavement groups about how to survive loss and shares these insights in Jan's Rainbow. His suggestions and ideas on dealing with loss come from true experience. Before taking early retirement, Lindsay was the Creative Thinking Guru for Kodak so his ideas tend to be different. As he says, "Losing a loved one is a life-changing experience and it requires some very creative thinking to get through it." There are some wonderful, and very different, tips for dealing with loss included that will ease the journey through the bereavement process. Included are ways to re-frame your thinking, how to use positive humor in your healing, and the use of metaphors to expand your thinking or finding innovative ways to survive, and much, much more. This book is a must for anyone who has lost a loved one or knows of someone who has. It is the ultimate "feel good" book for helping people to deal with losing a loved one. You'll cry, you'll laugh, and you'll be lifted to a new level of hope. A substantial portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to Gilda's Club of Rochester (New York), an organization built in memory of Gilda Radner which provides help to women with cancer.

It was just one day after Lindsay Collier's wife of forty years, Jan, lost her battle with ovarian cancer that a beautiful rainbow surrounded their home in upstate New York where family members were gathered to celebrate her life. Since that time there have been many amazing experiences that have provided some very compelling proof that Jan is not very far away. And Lindsay, a former engineer (engineers always need proof), is not one who is prone to fantasy which makes these occurrences all the more believable. He also tells about some other rather amazing experiences that he and his family have had following losses of other loved ones. These stories alone will make a believer out of you. But there is much more! Lindsay also found that, as he related these stories to friends and associates, he would often find that they would frequently offer their own stories about how lost loved ones had made contact with them. The stories were amazing and revolved around everything from dragonflies to birds to lights and clocks changing to things appearing out of nowhere. There are more than twenty-five of these included in the book, all of which will leave you feeling very good - and a little less lonely for those you have lost. Lindsay made a commitment to learn as much as he could from his loss and to help others to find ways to survive their loss. He has spoken to a number of bereavement groups about how to survive loss and shares these insights in Jan's Rainbow. His suggestions and ideas on dealing with loss come from true experience. Before taking early retirement, Lindsay was the Creative Thinking Guru for Kodak so his ideas tend to be different. As he says, "Losing a loved one is a life-changing experience and it requires some very creative thinking to get through it." There are some wonderful, and very different, tips for dealing with loss included that will ease the journey through the bereavement process. Included are ways to re-frame your thinking, how to use positive humor in your healing, and the use of metaphors to expand your thinking or finding innovative ways to survive, and much, much more. This book is a must for anyone who has lost a loved one or knows of someone who has. It is the ultimate "feel good" book for helping people to deal with losing a loved one. You'll cry, you'll laugh, and you'll be lifted to a new level of hope. A substantial portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to Gilda's Club of Rochester (New York), an organization built in memory of Gilda Radner which provides help to women with cancer.

Deborah Heneghan was fifteen when her seventeen-year-old sister died of cancer. A few weeks later, she woke in the middle of the night to a faint whisper summoning her. That was the beginning of Heneghan’s communication with her dead sister, one that continues to this day. In Closer Than You Think, Heneghan shows how she began to recognize the signs and messages from her sister. She shows readers how to get back in touch with deceased loved ones and find guidance and a helping hand from their big-picture perspective in the beyond. Filled with tips, tools, strategies, and stories to help the reader make contact, Closer Than You Think will give you hope, comfort and peace that your loved ones do ‘live on’ and are engaging you in a very real way. Readers learn how to connect and communicate with their deceased loved ones and remain close to them in a natural, healing way. Closer Than You Think shows how to: Recognize the signs, dreams, or other messages from your loved onesOpen the dialogue with your loved one for a lifetime of continued communicationTransform your anger and grief into hope and actionTune-in to healing guidance For anyone who has lost a loved one and is trying to develop a clearer connection with them, Closer Than You Think provides hope, comfort and peace that loved ones do live on and are engaging us in a very real way.

When a loved one dies we mourn our loss. We take comfort in the rituals that mark the passing, and we turn to those around us for support. But what happens when there is no closure, when a family member or a friend who may be still alive is lost to us nonetheless? How, for example, does the mother whose soldier son is missing in action, or the family of an Alzheimer's patient who is suffering from severe dementia, deal with the uncertainty surrounding this kind of loss? In this sensitive and lucid account, Pauline Boss explains that, all too often, those confronted with such ambiguous loss fluctuate between hope and hopelessness. Suffered too long, these emotions can deaden feeling and make it impossible for people to move on with their lives. Yet the central message of this book is that they can move on. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Boss suggests strategies that can cushion the pain and help families come to terms with their grief. Her work features the heartening narratives of those who cope with ambiguous loss and manage to leave their sadness behind, including those who have lost family members to divorce, immigration, adoption, chronic mental illness, and brain injury. With its message of hope, this eloquent book offers guidance and understanding to those struggling to regain their lives. Table of Contents: 1. Frozen Grief 2. Leaving without Goodbye 3. Goodbye without Leaving 4. Mixed Emotions 5. Ups and Downs 6. The Family Gamble 7. The Turning Point 8. Making Sense out of Ambiguity 9. The Benefit of a Doubt Notes Acknowledgments Reviews of this book: You will find yourself thinking about the issues discussed in this book long after you put it down and perhaps wishing you had extra copies for friends and family members who might benefit from knowing that their sorrows are not unique...This book's value lies in its giving a name to a force many of us will confront--sadly, more than once--and providing personal stories based on 20 years of interviews and research. --Pamela Gerhardt, Washington Post Reviews of this book: A compassionate exploration of the effects of ambiguous loss and how those experiencing it handle this most devastating of losses ... Boss's approach is to encourage families to talk together, to reach a consensus about how to mourn that which has been lost and how to celebrate that which remains. Her simple stories of families doing just that contain lessons for all. Insightful, practical, and refreshingly free of psychobabble. --Kirkus Review Reviews of this book: Engagingly written and richly rewarding, this title presents what Boss has learned from many years of treating individuals and families suffering from uncertain or incomplete loss...The obvious depth of the author's understanding of sufferers of ambiguous loss and the facility with which she communicates that understanding make this a book to be recommended. --R. R. Cornellius, Choice Reviews of this book: Written for a wide readership, the concepts of ambiguous loss take immediate form through the many provocative examples and stories Boss includes, All readers will find stories with which they will relate...Sensitive, grounded and practical, this book should, in my estimation, be required reading for family practitioners. --Ted Bowman, Family Forum Reviews of this book: Dr. Boss describes [the] all-too-common phenomenon [of unresolved grief] as resulting from either of two circumstances: when the lost person is still physically present but emotionally absent or when the lost person is physically absent but still emotionally present. In addition to senility, physical presence but psychological absence may result, for example, when a person is suffering from a serious mental disorder like schizophrenia or depression or debilitating neurological damage from an accident or severe stroke, when a person abuses drugs or alcohol, when a child is autistic or when a spouse is a workaholic who is not really 'there' even when he or she is at home...Cases of physical absence with continuing psychological presence typically occur when a soldier is missing in action, when a child disappears and is not found, when a former lover or spouse is still very much missed, when a child 'loses' a parent to divorce or when people are separated from their loved ones by immigration...Professionals familiar with Dr. Boss's work emphasised that people suffering from ambiguous loss were not mentally ill, but were just stuck and needed help getting past the barrier or unresolved grief so that they could get on with their lives. --Asian Age Combining her talents as a compassionate family therapist and a creative researcher, Pauline Boss eloquently shows the many and complex ways that people can cope with the inevitable losses in contemporary family life. A wise book, and certain to become a classic. --Constance R. Ahrons, author of The Good Divorce A powerful and healing book. Families experiencing ambiguous loss will find strategies for seeing what aspects of their loved ones remain, and for understanding and grieving what they have lost. Pauline Boss offers us both insight and clarity. --Kathy Weingarten, Ph.D, The Family Institute of Cambridge, Harvard Medical School

This book is a companion to The Unwinding. It contains within images that tell stories, but it reads like a silent film. Each of the images is an invitation to dream.The tales of this silent edition are not pinned to the page by words. Each dreamer will find their own path, perhaps a new one each time they return.The illustrations are intended to inspire: there is space to draw and write, to paint dreams and stories, thoughts and verse, in new worlds, wherever your pen may guide you.

The grief books that just "gets it." Each year about eight million Americans suffer the unexpected death of a loved one. For those who face the challenges of sudden death, the classic guide I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye offers a comforting hand to hold, written by two authors who have experienced it firsthand. Acting as a touchstone of sanity through difficult times, this book covers such difficult topics as: The first few weeks Suicide Death of a Child Children and Grief Funerals and Rituals Physical effects Homicide Depression Featured on ABC World News, Fox and Friends and many other shows, this book has offered solace to over eight thousand people, ranging from seniors to teenagers and from the newly bereaved those who lost a loved one years ago. An exploration of unexpected death and its role in the cycle of live, I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye provides survivors with a rock-steady anchor from which to weather the storm of pain and begin to rebuild their lives. Praise for I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye: "I highly recommend this book, not only to the bereaved, but to friends and counselors as well."-- Helen Fitzgerald, author of The Grieving Child, The Mourning Handbook, and The Grieving Teen "This book, by women who have done their homework on grief... can hold a hand and comfort a soul through grief's wilderness. Outstanding references of where to see other help."-- George C. Kandle, Pastoral Psychologist "Finally, you have found a friend who can not only explain what has just occurred, but can take you by the hand and lead you to a place of healing and personal growth...this guide can help you survive and cope, but even more importantly... heal."-- The Rebecca Review "For those dealing with the loss of a loved one, or for those who want to help someone who is, this is a highly recommended read."--Midwest Book Review

Raising My Rainbow is Lori Duron’s frank, heartfelt, and brutally funny account of her and her family's adventures of distress and happiness raising a gender-creative son. Whereas her older son, Chase, is a Lego-loving, sports-playing boy's boy, Lori's younger son, C.J., would much rather twirl around in a pink sparkly tutu, with a Disney Princess in each hand while singing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi." C.J. is gender variant or gender nonconforming, whichever you prefer. Whatever the term, Lori has a boy who likes girl stuff—really likes girl stuff. He floats on the gender-variation spectrum from super-macho-masculine on the left all the way to super-girly-feminine on the right. He's not all pink and not all blue. He's a muddled mess or a rainbow creation. Lori and her family choose to see the rainbow. Written in Lori's uniquely witty and warm voice and launched by her incredibly popular blog of the same name, Raising My Rainbow is the unforgettable story of her wonderful family as they navigate the often challenging but never dull privilege of raising a slightly effeminate, possibly gay, totally fabulous son. Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content