When is teen grief normal versus a cause for concern? Grief is hard on anyone, and teen grief is hard on parents as well as teens. Teenagers are at a high risk age for suicide. So, while grief is a normal and natural reaction to loss, you want to be especially alert with teen grief. Look for warning signs such as personality changes, self-harming, major changes in eating or sleeping or social patterns, talk of suicide, isolation, drug or alcohol... Read more

Workplace grief is common.  We often spend more time at work than at home, and our coworkers can become like family. It is normal and natural to experience grief when a coworker dies, becomes ill, or experiences a family tragedy. When my friend film editor Sally Menke died, her coworkers were devastated. “I loved loved loved Sally Menke,” said one coworker. He experienced deep grief over her death, as did the hundreds of others who packed her memorial service after her sudden... Read more

Katy Perry is working with a heartbreak coach to get over her messy divorce with Russell Brand, and help herself make better relationship decisions in the future, according to recent reports. From celebrities like Katy Perry to the girl next door, we all suffer heartbreak after a breakup or divorce. “But surprisingly, heartbreak can also be a golden opportunity for growth,” says Aurora Winter, heartbreak coach and author of From Heartbreak to Happiness. “Every crisis also represents an opportunity. Heartbreak... Read more

A flat, monotonous plain is not for me. I love the mountains and the babbling brooks that rush from dizzying heights down to the unfathomably deep sea. I choose love—though it is entwined with loss. I choose joy—though it is entwined with sorrow. I choose peaks—though they are entwined with valleys. I choose life—though it is entwined with death. Life, glorious life! To embrace and savor each moment, to leave my own footprints on hearts—that’s all there is—and all I... Read more

I knew only one thing—which I have learned well by now: love goes very far beyond the physical being of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance. Victor Frankl Read more

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. Marianne Williamson Read more

What would chocolate be without bitter cacao and sugar? What would music be without notes and silences between? What would a rainbow be without rain and sun? I see now that there can be no love without loss, no joy without sorrow, no peaks without valleys. Aurora Winter Read more

Become an alchemist. Transform base metal into gold, Suffering into consciousness, Disaster into enlightenment. Eckhart Tolle Read more

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. St. Francis of Assisi Read more

Of course not! Grief is not mental illness — it is an inevitable part of the circle of life. Grief is as much a mental illness as puberty. In 1952, the first “bible of psychiatry” didn’t even refer to grief, considering it a normal reaction to the loss of a loved one. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was just released by the American Psychiatric Association. It has been changed so that someone can... Read more