Connect
with the very best parts of yourself.
Build
new strengths and tools, in order to redesign your life.
Reach
your own goals.
Honor
the past, enjoy the present, move into a new future.
We will work together to bring to light the you that feels right.
What I do
I am hoping these words will resonate with you, a widow who has come to this web site because you’re looking for something.
You have been on a path with your beloved, who is now gone in the physical sense, and you need to figure out how to navigate your own new path.
This is so hard when you have been part of a couple, even for a few years. Imagine how hard it is for a woman who has lost a partner of many years.
I know how to help you. In fact, I know that most of you already have the answers within you. It really is your internal wisdom that works the magic. I am just the facilitator who helps you to discover that magic so you can put it into action.
Through our work, you will learn to make friends with your grief. The grief will be with you for a long time and probably forever. It can coexist with the new things you welcome into your life. Then we will go on from there, in whatever directions are important and meaningful to you. The result will be a happier, more peaceful and even more successful next stage of your life, in spite of your loss.
What we do together
The first critical thing is that I will provide you with a perfectly safe place to explore the answers to the questions you are asking and to express whatever you need to.
I trudged through my own shattered life, picked up the pieces and put myself back together. So will you, bit by bit. Choosing to feel better and to rebuild or redesign your life is an important first step.
It’s a learning process or perhaps a re-learning how to live, how to move, how to go on, step by step. It’s almost like a rehab process after an accident or illness. I will be part of your “rehab team” in a way your friends and close family usually can’t be.
We won’t be able to put you back just as you were before, because that you is part of the past. We will work on the present and the future. The future isn’t easy for you to see now, I know.
There will be obstacles and triggers along the way. We will identify them and I will help you to find or create some “life hacks” to get you through the tough days.
We will also identify and build on the things that energize you, and that give you courage. Yes, you will gradually begin to feel more capable and courageous, with my help.
Oh and by the way, we will do our best to have a little fun sometimes too. Fun may be far from your mind when we begin working together. I get that. As you will learn, when we exercise certain “muscles”, they get stronger and become habits.
How I do it
My structure is loose and based on your needs. The tools I use and the exercises I come up with, or that we come up with together, will make you think, appreciate, remember and hopefully will often shift your thinking and perceptions. We will work together using my Taming Grief RECIPES process. You will learn to create your own unique recipes for navigating and living in your new world.
In most cases, your thoughts create your emotions. It is our interpretation of the world that makes us feel and behave in certain ways. We can’t change the facts or your reality, but we can work on how you view them. That will help you create change and begin to feel better.
My tools in my coaching toolbox are customized to meet you where you are and to resonate with you. Some of the tools are hard to describe here, because they are often chosen just for you, the client.
When it is right for you, I like to use various kinds of creativity in our process, as well as mindfulness. There might be writing exercises, drawing, body awareness and movement, visualizations, and other ways of accessing emotions and creating awareness. You will feel heard in a way that differs from the listening your family and friends do. They are too close to your situation. They mean well, but they often don’t understand the depth of despair and loneliness you are feeling. They are probably dealing with their own grief about the loss of your spouse or partner, which is different than your grief.
There is so much more I can tell you. However, I really would like to hear your story. There is power and comfort in telling that story, at least at first and I am ready to listen and to work with you. Let’s discover how to be the YOU that you perhaps were before the US, or the new YOU, whatever that may be.
Contact me to set up a conversation to learn more or to get started in our work together.