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WSN – Friends Seemingly Lost
WSN-MO: The Perfect Catch A few minutes with Dating and Relationship Coach, Christine Baumgartner Friends Seemingly Lost Among the many devastating changes that come with widowhood, one that often catches people entirely by surprise is the pulling away of one or more close friends. Most married couples have a few (or many) friends who are…
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Why I Still Love My Life
Recently I received the gift of a significant breakthrough in my life. But first, a little background. Fifty-two months ago, on a cold February morning, I was driving to the hospital, suitcase in tow to bring my wife home from another incident avoided. You see, I was very used to adjusting our routine with a…
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Widower: The Importance of Empathy to Healing Grief
Widower: The Importance of Empathy to Healing Grief Empathy is critical to healing grief. For me, it was second only to gratitude as a skill that I had to develop to pull myself out of the deep depression and suffering I experienced during the first year of my grieving. After losing my wife of 45…
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Widower: Helping A New Widower on Father’s Day
If your dad recently became a widower, there are ways you can help him on Father’s Day. Fathers who are newly minted widowers on Father’s Day are apt to be in the throes of intense loneliness, self-doubt, and possibly caught up in regrets and self-recrimination. This can lead to self-isolation and depression if not addressed.…
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Widower: Healthy vs. Unhealthy Grief
If you love someone and you lose them, you are going to grieve… there is no getting around it! But, is there a way to grieve that is healthy for you? Or a way that is unhealthy? Based on my own experience and what I have heard from hundreds of widower, the answer is a…
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Widower: When Can I Stop Grieving?
When I ask former members of my Men’s Grief Group why they stopped coming to the group, the most common response is, “I just did not want to grieve anymore, and the groups became a downer after I had begun to feel better.” I often hear the same story from widows, who had stopped attending…
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MOVING FORWARD
MOVING FORWARD When widows and widowers try to move forward with life, a multitude of feelings can suddenly make themselves known. These feelings vary a lot, depending on personality and situation. Here are some examples. See if any of these apply to you. Completely stuck. You have the best intentions, but repeatedly find yourself stuck.…
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Boy’s Don’t Cry…right? WRONG! And That’s Okay
by Herb Knoll Author: The Widower’s Journey From the time little boys are first able to walk, in some cases even before they can walk, parents begin shaping the psyche of their sons by telling them, “Boys don’t cry. ” Oh really… who says so? Whoever it was, they should be picked up and prosecuted for the harm they…
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Widower 101: More Key Learnings
Recently I shared four things that I have learned since becoming a widower. In this article, I would like to continue to share a few additional thoughts on this issue. For each one of us, this list may be different. As I write in my book The First 365, a loss is the ultimate designer…
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Grief is Love
Three years ago, I would have used the following words to define “grief:” physical and emotional pain, suffering, anguish, cruelty, punishment, abandonment, loss of self, guilt, misery, and loneliness. I experienced all of these, and I saw no way to survive them or to become whole again. I found the same to be true of…
Widowers Support Network 