The Artists’
Grief Deck

Take a long bath. Soak yourself into the warm water, and close your eyes. Feel the water touching your skin, After you finish, Wrap yourself with your favorite bath towel....

My great grandmother was one of the most special, wonderful people in my life. She would fly from New Zealand to Australia every year for my birthday, and she would stay in my room, telling me countle...

To get through my sadness I feel better when I take three deep breaths and calm down. I imagine I’m breathing my emotions into a balloon and then I let it go. The cat is thoughtful and petting it ma...

Common misconceptions of grief assert that the grief journey is universal, linear, and predictable. However, grief is not a monolithic experience; instead, grief is unique to the individual. While oth...

Beautiful white roses and lavender. For spring, for memories, for hope, for healing....

Pretend a newspaper reporter is interviewing you to learn about grief and loss and your job is to teach them. What would you want them to know about what it’s like to be you since your loved one die...

close your eyes and look out the window of your mind. tell me, how fares the sky? is it dull or bright? heavy or light? be there sun or rain or fog or? — no matter what you find, just brea...

Losing people can leave us with unresolved feelings. Write a letter to your lost one(s). This can be someone you knew, or someone you never met (such as an ancestor)Tell them what you wish you could t...

This piece, What Is To Come, derives from a time that I observed my husband sitting for a long moment in contemplation. He had just returned home to us after serving time in federal and immigration detention centers.

When we go through a hard time, we sometimes feel like we're torn up into a lot of little pieces. To help feel more together, rip up some old magazines and glue the pieces together into a new picture....

Rituals symbolically connect us to the larger world and each other and those who have come before us. There is some evidence the actions in rituals may actually release endorphins, which can ease anxi...

We don’t always allow other people to see or know the way we are feeling on the inside. When we mask our feelings, sometimes the feelings get bigger or come out in ways that we can’t control or do...

Imagine a vase with flowers and those flowers are the person you are missing (if you have a vase and real flowers, this will work). Now imagine the smell of the flowers and picture the person. Does th...

Hold a hand, Hold the hand of your lost one, your beloved, the hand of the being who haunts you. And when you become accustomed to the deep presence of the absence hold any hand, your lover’s hand,...

Look outside a window. Take note of the neighborhood you’re in, with all your senses. Sense the familiar or unfamiliar smells that are almost barely detectable. Hear the sounds that freely move and...

Grieving is one of our most natural activities. Thich Nhat Hanh says, "When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may...

In the Quaker practice of worship, friends come together, seated and facing one another, for an hour of silence. For the first few meetings, the silence can be uncomfortable. Maybe even unbearable. Fo...

Loneliness is in integral part of grief. It is hard to accept and feel the loneliness of loss. Consider filling some of the emptiness you feel with other people and activities, such as volunteering or...

Losses of life interrupt the general flow of our lives. Things are not as they were, and life can feel chaotic. One way of bringing order into the chaos of loss is to establish healthy routines. Set t...