Alexandra Kennedy - Honoring Grief: Creating a Space to Let Yourself Heal

Alexandra Kennedy, MA, LMFT, is a psychotherapist in private practice thirty-nine years and author of Losing a Parent; The Infinite Thread: Healing Relationships Beyond Loss; and How Did I Miss All This Before? Waking Up to the Magic of Our Ordinary Lives. She is an adjunct faculty member of John F. Kennedy University and has taught at the University of California Santa Cruz Extension and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She has been interviewed in USA Today, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Examiner, and the Boston Herald, as well as on NPRs Talk of the Nation, CNNs Sonja Live, and on KQEDs Family Talk and New Dimensions Radio.

Foreword writer Stephen Levine is an American poet, author, and teacher, who along with his wife and spiritual partner Ondrea Levine, is best known for his work on death and dying. He is the author of Who Dies, Healing into Life and Death, Turning Toward the Mystery, Becoming Kuan Yin, and many other books.

This is a gentle, quiet book. Alexandra Kennedy has traveled these pathways; authentic, genuine, heart-shredding grief is a fiercely intimate, intensely private matter, experienced in vastly unpredictable ways. We are thrust against our will into some brand new world, unique for each and every one of us. While she offers gentle suggestions, simple tools, and practices along the way, Kennedy wisely counsels there is no map, no schedule. There is tremendous mercy here. We are too often rushed through what must be allowed its time, its season, to ripen, to die, to heal.

Kennedy is wise and compassionate, and she refuses to desecrate this holy mystery of loss. Rather, she offers simply to accompany us as we walk a path only we can follow. Kennedy teaches us to trust that Death knows the way to lead us into Life. For us, we can trust that Kennedy knows of what she speaks.

Wayne Muller, author of Sabbath and A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough

A true pioneer in our field, Alexandra Kennedy offers a profoundly clear understanding of what it truly means to heal after a loss in her elegantly simple new book, Honoring Grief. Its sure to become a classic. For years to come,Ill be sharing this wonderful book with clients, families, friends, and communities besieged by loss.

Ken Druck, PhD, grief and resilience coach and author of The Real Rules of Life: Balancing Lifes Terms with Your Own

If there is one person Id like to talk to after a loss, it is Alexandra Kennedy. She offers no platitudes for griefno one-size-fits-all recipejust wisdom, kindness, and empathy. Most of all, Kennedy tells us what we all need to hear: we are not alone, and, no, we are not going crazy.

Lolly Winston, MFA, author of the novels Good Grief and Happiness Sold Separately

We dont usually think of grief as a healing journey; in fact, most of us would rather not think of grief at all. But Alexandra Kennedy gently, expertly guides the reader into a depth that is neither frightening nor overwhelming, but manageable and critical to ones true well-being. In Honoring Grief, she has distilled a lifetime of listening and examining to bring forth a sacred practice that allows us to meet grief where we are, be embraced in sanctuary, heal wounds, and renew life with new eyes and a more open heart. With this books practices, grief can be a time to break free from the pain of long-held sufferings, and expand our capacity to love and live fully.

Beth Witrogen, Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of Caregiving: The Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Renewal

Grief is the way that loss heals. In Honoring Grief, Alexandra Kennedy offers us a sanctuary in which to process our losses and find healing. This simple-to-use, step-by-step workbook on the healing of grief can be a nightlight for people in dark times.

Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfathers Blessings

I loved this book. Honoring Grief provides safety, comfort, and guidance for healing after loss. The format makes it easily accessible to someone experiencing deep chaotic emotions. The text is poetic and beautifully crafted. I would recommend this book to my colleagues and friends. It will become part of my teaching.

Janet M. Schreiber, PhD, director of the Grief, Loss, and Trauma certificate program at Southwestern College, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright 2014 by Alexandra Kennedy

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Amy Shoup; Text design by Michele Waters-Kermes; Acquired by Jess OBrien; Edited by Jennifer Eastman

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kennedy, Alexandra.

Honoring grief : creating a space to let yourself heal / Alexandra Kennedy ; foreword by Stephen Levine.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-62625-064-2 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-065-9 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-066-6 (epub) 1. Grief. 2. Loss (Psychology) I. Title.

BF575.G7K4577 2014

155.93--dc23

2014021290

For my son, Taylor, who lights up my life