Grief Works - Julia Samuel
Body & Mind Book Reviews
Grief Works - Julia Samuel
What’s in it
This book is all about grief. About how people work their way through grief. Told from a therapist's perspective. Talking about real people in her practice. People who grieved. For loved ones, for children, for parents, for themselves.
I've written about a therapist's book before.
The lessons I take from this one?
That grief affects everyone in different ways.
And that - as family and friends of the bereaved - we can get much better in being there for the person who has just lost someone.
By being there - long after everyone else is gone.
By not avoiding the subject of death, or the person who has died.
By giving practical help
By being honest and sensitive, and
By letting the bereaved person lead on the pace of their grieving.
Julia Samuel identifies a number of 'pillars', elements that determine the level of grief, as she has witnessed in the people she supported: how close you were to the person that died, your relationship with yourself, your health, how you can express grief, your boundaries, structure in your life, and your ability to focus.
Why I like it
I think there is so much to learn from these type of books about people's lives. About the real, human emotion that people encounter in grief. How they deal with it.
It left me pondering. About how we all can be better. How we'd cope with grief.
How we can prepare ourselves better for inevitable life events.