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Tuesday - March 19, 2024
 

In the Year 2023, Trina Is Deliberately Choosing Joy vs. Happiness. What’s the Difference, You Ask? Check Out Her Answer Here

January 24th, 2023

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW I spoke often about grief and loss in 2022. I also covered journaling and the different types of journaling as the way I chose to listen to my inner self. I used it to figure out what was bothering me and what to do about it. This year I will continue to use my journal for that purpose, while adding gratitude and joy as this year’s focus. Why did I choose gratitude? I chose it because it is my pathway to joy. Joy is going to be my word of the year. For me, the year 2022 was one of deep loss. January 2, 2022, I was with my mother when she passed, and my husband... Read More

Trina O’Quinn Shares Her List of Things You Shouldn’t Say to Someone Who Is Grieving

April 4th, 2022

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” ~ John Lennon, lyric from “Beautiful Boy,” from his last album, ‘Double Fantasy,’ with Yoko Ono. My intention was to follow up on my last blog post by describing types of journals one could use throughout life. Then on January 2, 2022, my mother died at age 97. She was healthy, her mind was still sharp, but her body started shutting down. So when the grieving started, I changed my plan and decided to write about what the grief of losing my mother has taught me so far. I’ll... Read More

Disenfranchised Grief Caused by Undiagnosed Dyslexia

October 14th, 2020

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW This past July, I fell, bruising my knees and shoulders and whiplashing my neck. Today, I am still recovering. What I have found is that at age 75, I am not recovering like I used to, even at age 60. I am grateful that I did not break anything besides my ego. The fall triggered my fibromyalgia, causing pain all over my body, so I decided it was time to see a rheumatologist. She not only confirmed the fibromyalgia, but also diagnosed severe arthritis. After discussing my options for a recovery plan, together we decided that I would begin with aquatic physical... Read More

Still Feeling COVID Anxiety? Trina O’Quinn Benefits From John Lennon’s Lyrical Advice, Learning to “Let It Be…” Says It Might Help You, As Well

September 19th, 2020

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW “Life Is What Happens While You’re Busy Making Other Plans” – John Lennon As I began pondering this month’s blog, this quote continued to run through my mind. I am one of many people in the world who has music in the background of my brain all the time. Along with the quote came the music and lyrics to the song Let It Be, also by John Lennon: “Singing Words of Wisdom, Let It Be, Let It be.” So, I asked myself: What do either of these quotes have to do with my current Blog? What do they have to do with my theme of Grief? The answer was the theme of... Read More

Trina O’Quinn Expands on Her Tips for Moving Through Grief

September 8th, 2020

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW While trying to write my next article for you, I experienced writer’s block due to low motivation, probably brought on by my own grief. So I took some of my own advice and decided to reflect on my state of being through meditations on what I was feeling. (There is that “f” word again.) Next, I reread my previous blogs. In doing this, I made the discovery that the tips I gave you for finding your way through grief were actually just the bullet points of larger concepts. I realized that to be more helpful, I really needed to offer you examples, or find you... Read More

Grief in the Time of COVID: Why We Need to Reflect, Remember, Rest, Recharge, Refocus, Resolve and Have Curiosity.

June 15th, 2020

By Trina O’Quinn for the NABBW I ended my last blog post,  in which I discussed how I was dealing with the losses generated by the COVID pandemic, with a plan to Reflect, Remember, Rest, Recharge, Refocus, Resolve and have Curiosity while doing the “six Rs of grief.” As time has moved forward, I have tried to separate the steps and work on them in a vertical progression. A month later, I am finding that as I try to go through the stages of grief, I am not achieving the usual result. So I have decided to grieve on a continuum, knowing that the stages will overlap or at least bleed... Read More

Widowhood – Will We Boomers Find a Way to Reshape It, As We Have Already Done With Funerals?

June 28th, 2016

I’ve recently read three excellent books – one a novel – by two NABBW members, both dealing with the topic of widowhood. Life as a widow is not a scenario I’ve ever given much thought to, despite being advised, many decades ago in a collegiate gerontology course, that since women tend to live about five years longer than men, if we don’t want to end up widowed  it’s best to marry a younger man.  (In my defense, I was already married by that time, so couldn’t act on this sage advice.) More recent statistics, provided by WISER, the Women’s Institute... Read More

Four Funerals and a Wedding: Resilience in a Time of Grief

April 1st, 2014

Four Funerals and a Wedding: Resilience in a Time of Grief Amazon Barnes & Noble Author: Jill Smolowe Reviewed for the NABBW by: Anne Holmes  Jill Smolowe has written an amazing book. A memoir that covers a seventeen month period of her life, during which she buries her husband, her mother, her mother-in-law and her sister – though the deaths do not occur in that order – it’s written like a novel. What makes the book amazing is that is not maudlin or sad or sappy. It’s actually uplifting – and not just because it ends with the “life goes on affirmation” of a family wedding.... Read More

Dealing With Grief During the Holiday Season

November 24th, 2013

Dealing With Grief During the Holiday Season  By Chloe JonPaul, M. Ed. As the holiday season approaches, there are many persons dreading the very thought of it.  This may be due to the recent loss of a loved one, divorce, serious illness, family friction, diminished finances, and much more.  Whatever the reason, now is the time to become proactive in dealing with your grief.  There are effective tools to help you wage your battle with grief or help someone you know who is facing this dilemma. The first order of business is to “remember the reason for the season.”  At Thanksgiving we have... Read More

When All That’s Left of Me Is Love: A Daughter’s Story of Letting Go

March 16th, 2012

When All That\’s Left of Me Is Love: A Daughter\’s Story of Letting Go Author: Linda Campanella Website: http://lindacampanella.tateauthor.com Reviewed By: Anne Holmes for the NABBW Linda Campanella calls herself an “accidental author.” No doubt this is because her book would never have been written had her mother, Nancy Sachsse, not died a year and a day after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Campanella not felt a deep need to come to terms with the pain of her loss. She wrote the book as a tribute to her mother and a gift to her father. The rest of the world... Read More