Navigating Grief and Loss: 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep Your Heart Open to Yourself and Others

by Kimberly Brown

Overview

NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS is designed to support all of us through difficult and upsetting times. It’s a relatable and useful guide with practical applications to help navigate the profound experience of loss, be it an elderly parent, succumbing to a lingering illness, the shock of an accidental death, a small business shuttered, a divorce after years of conflict, or euthanasia of a beloved pet. Each short chapter honestly describes a personal experience dealing with death or grief—staying at a hospice facility at my mother’s bedside, feeling frustrated by the options for a terminally ill friend, navigating changed relationships after someone dies, the shock and shame of an unwanted divorce, managing the overwhelming pain of bereavement—and is followed by a brief practice—a meditation, exercise, or contemplation that readers can use to discover insights and truths and find some solace for their own struggles and sorrow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633888197
Publisher:	Globe Pequot Publishing
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kimberly Brown leads meditation classes and retreats that emphasize the power of compassion and kindness to reconnect us to ourselves and others. Her teachings provide an approachable pathway to personal and collective well-being through effective and modern techniques based on traditional practices. She studies in both the Tibetan and Insight schools of Buddhism and is a certified mindfulness instructor.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

Notes on the Practices xvii

Chapter 1 There Is Nothing Wrong with You 1

Practice 1 Stay 5

Chapter 2 Change after Loss 7

Practice 2 Mindfulness 12

Chapter 3 When You're Angry 15

Practice 3 Hearing the Hurt 20

Chapter 4 When You Know It's Coming 23

Practice 4 Facing the Present 28

Chapter 5 It's Not Fair: When a Young Person Dies 29

Practice 5 You're Not Alone 34

Chapter 6 Sudden Death 37

Practice 6 Standing on the Earth 41

Chapter 7 If Your Family Disappoints You 43

Practice 7 You Support You 49

Chapter 8 Being Present at the Moment of Death 53

Practice 8 A Lineage of Kindness 57

Chapter 9 When You're Too Sad to Move 59

Practice 9 Just Breathe 64

Chapter 10 Complicated Relationships, Complicated Grief 67

Practice 10 Meditation in Motion 74

Chapter 11 Grieving for Strangers 77

Practice 11 Awake to the World 81

Chapter 12 Beloved Pets 83

Practice 12 Appreciation 88

Chapter 13 Divorce 91

Practice 13 Self-Compassion 95

Chapter 14 When You're Fired or Laid Off 97

Practice 14 Opening to Change 102

Chapter 15 Loss during a Crisis 103

Practice 15 Shared Suffering 107

Chapter 16 Unspoken Loss 109

Practice 16 Welcoming Peace 113

Chapter 17 When It's Time to Say Goodbye 115

Practice 17 Grace 119

Chapter 18 When People Behave Badly 121

Practice 18 Forgive and Remember 127

Chapter 19 Don't Be Afraid to Laugh 129

Practice 19 Finding Joy 134

Chapter 20 Caring for Dying People 135

Practice 20 Mindful Caregiving 140

Chapter 21 When You're Filled with Guilt or Regret 141

Practice 21 Self-Forgiveness 145

Chapter 22 When You're Lost and Afraid 147

Practice 22 You Got through It 151

Chapter 23 Mourning and Social Media 153

Practice 23 Skillful Speech 157

Chapter 24 Letting Life Unfold-Going Forward 159

Practice 24 Give It All Away 164

Chapter 25 Honoring Loss 167

Practice 25 The Forty-Ninth-Day Ritual 171

Appendix A Mindfulness Meditation Instructions 173

Appendix B Metta Meditation Instructions 175

Appendix C Protection Prayer for the Dead 177

Appendix D Comforting Grief Meditation 179

Notes 183

Resources 187

About the Author 189