Book Review: Grief 2 Growth

By Joanna BartlettJanuary 13, 2020January 13, 2020 Grief recovery book review, books, grief, healing from loss

Grief is a tricky beast. We all grieve, it’s one of the realities of life. We all weather emotional wounds. Yet we’re not very good at sitting with our grief and loss or working through it. Grief 2 Growth by Brian D. Smith is a short, practical, compassionate book on grief and how it can…

Depth-journaling, releasing the steam valve on repressed emotions

By Joanna BartlettJuly 3, 2019July 3, 2019 Personal growth depth journaling, healing from loss, personal development, personal growth

It’s taken me a while to write publicly about my healing journey and the processes I’ve used to accomplish it. Telling your story is hard when you’re still in the middle of it. You don’t know the ending, or how it’s going to go, and that puts you in a vulnerable place. It’s also tricky…

The grief of moving: why you’re still carrying the weight of your past homes

By Joanna BartlettJune 13, 2019June 13, 2019 Grief recovery grief, healing from loss, loss

Major grief can come from moving. Whether it’s from moving homes many times, especially growing up, or a major move from a place you’ve lived for a long time.

What is that grief and where does it come from?

The true pain of divorce: your lost hopes, dreams and expectations

By Joanna BartlettMay 29, 2019May 29, 2019 Grief recovery divorce, grief and loss, grief recovery method, healing, healing from loss

I remember the moment during my second divorce when I realized I was going to need to grieve the loss of my marriage and heal from the circumstances that caused me to divorce to begin with. I didn’t want to bring the pain into my next relationship. I wanted to be able to love fully…

Book review: Where did you go – connecting to your loved ones who’ve died

By Joanna BartlettMay 23, 2019May 23, 2019 Healing, Spiritual development communicating with Spirit, healing from loss, losing a loved one, loved ones

My mum and I had one of those strangely close but often dysfunctional relationships. She loved me intensely, but didn’t have good boundaries, didn’t protect me from predators and, throughout my adolescence, treated me too much like a friend and not enough like a child. Despite all that, I feel emotionally complete about my relationship…

Book review: Writing As a Way of Healing

By Joanna BartlettMay 16, 2019May 16, 2019 Healing expressive writing, healing from loss, journaling

I didn’t mean to become a writer. It wasn’t what I pictured for myself as a career when I was a kid. There were signs though. Like the life story I kept attempting to write. I’d get 3 or 4 pages in and give up, over and over again, unable to continue. It usually started,…

Book review: Expressive writing as a way of healing

By Joanna BartlettApril 26, 2019April 26, 2019 Healing, Spiritual development expressive writing, healing from loss, personal development, personal growth

A year ago I was in a very different place with my health than I am now. I weighed 30 lbs more than I do now. I was exhausted, recovering from things my health team couldn’t quite nail down but decided was a combination of adrenal fatigue, post viral syndrome, a reactivation of Epstein Barr…

Signs you’re probably dealing with unresolved grief

By Joanna BartlettFebruary 12, 2019February 8, 2019 Grief recovery, Healing grief recovery method, healing from loss, signs of grief, unresolved grief

How do you know if you’ve experienced loss? It may seem like a silly question, but we often discount and minimize the real impact of our losses. We’re taught to do this by society and our family. It’s ingrained in us to get over and get on with things, which means we usually don’t give…

The 6 myths of grief: Stay busy

By Joanna BartlettOctober 23, 2018November 1, 2018 Grief recovery grief myths, grief recovery, grief recovery method, healing from loss, myths of grief

When my Mum died, very shortly after an unexpected cancer diagnosis, I took charge and got on with things. “What else am I going to do?” I thought. “Someone has to.” Grief myth #5: Stay busy I took all my available vacation time, plus a couple of extra days when my boss donated some of…

The 6 myths of grief: Grieve alone

By Joanna BartlettOctober 1, 2018 Grief recovery grief, grief myths, grief recovery method, healing from loss

Even though it’s been more than 30 years since I left England (I was 10, if you’re counting), sometimes I still feel extremely British. Dealing with my hurt and pain is one of those times. It’s during those times, when I’m grieving and vulnerable, that I’m mostly likely to fall back onto a strongly-rooted default…