Harriet Hodgson - Daisy a Day: Hope for a Grieving Heart

Daisy A Day: Hope for a Grieving Heart

2022 by Harriet Hodgson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The information in this book is not intended to serve as a replacement for professional medical or counseling advice. Any use of the information in this book is at the readers sole discretion. The author and publisher disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or application of the information in this book. A medical professional should be consulted regarding your specific situation. While every effort has been made to ensure the information in this book is the most current, new research findings may invalidate some data.

Published in the United States by WriteLife Publishing, Inc.

(an imprint of Boutique of Quality Books Publishing Company, Inc.)

www.writelife.com

978-1-60808-270-4 (p)

978-1-60808-271-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022933240

Book design by Robin Krauss, www.bookformatters.com

Cover design by Rebecca Lown, www.rebeccalowndesign.com

Cover photo from www.istockphotos.com

Editor: Andrea Vande Vorde

PRAISE FOR

DAISY A DAY

AND HARRIET HODGSON

Filled with hope and encouragement, Harriet Hodgsons guide for mourners is a handbook of survival, offering practical tips and useful tools for getting through each day while navigating the many challenges of grief. Based on her experience of coping with her own significant losses, she includes lessons learned from eachall presented in her characteristic style: simple, understandable, easy to digest, filled with hope and encouragement, and grounded in valid and reliable research. Highly recommended.

Marty Tousley, RN, MS, FT, Grief Counselor and author of Finding Your Way Through Grief: A Guide for the First Year

This is the best grief book I have ever read. Harriet Hodgsons extraordinary losses give her an unrivaled expertise. She uses this to help all of us when we are faced with loss. Her healing behaviors and suggestions go beyond the usual. We all need to keep this book handy for ourselves and as a gift to others. Loss is universal.

- Mary Amundsen, RN, BSN, MS in Counseling

Daisy A Day is more than a book. Its a friend. It will climb onto the couch with you and hand you a warm cup of comfort tea. Its a book to carry with you, to open at any page, to digest in short, friendly spurts. The suggestions, ideas, and insights come from years of loving experience brought together by Harriets creativity and empathy. Its a book for new grievers and for those of us who have been on the journey for a while. Sit back, invite it to join you, and feel comforted and loved.

Joy Brown, founder of Centering Corporation, author of about 50 books, and author of The BOOB Girls comedy mystery series for senior women

A daisy appears as a simple flower representing innocence and purity, yet its symbolism is far more complicated. And, in truth, the daisy is two flowers in one: the petals and cluster of disc petals. So too is this book. At once serious and cheeky. In Daisy A Day, Hodgson creates an incredible book, a masterful, poetic how-to that escorts us, like a beloved friend, through the ordinary sacredness of grief.

Elizabeth Coplan, Grief Dialogues Found and Chief Playwright

At the bedside, we palliative and hospice doctors can offer plenty of medication, but the one prescription I like to write is that for hope. We always have hope. And when a loved one has left you, we are left with hope for an end to the grief we feel. Harriet Hodgson helps us get there, one daisy at a time. I am honored to know her.

Edward T. Creagan, MDE, FAAHPM, Emeritus Professor of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic Medical School, author of Farewell: Vital End-of-Life Questions with Candid Answers from a Leading Palliative and Hospice Physician

The title, Daisy ADay, at first seems to defy the subject matter of Harriet Hodgsons latest book; this one on grief, but it is exactly that contrast that makes it such a valuable class in coaching.

Reading it, as a member of the choir, I found her guidance spot on. The short life lessons are just what someone finding themselves in onset, middle, and latter part of the grieving journey will find sweetly digestible. Broken up into stages of grief, you can open any page within a section and find words of encouragement, wisdom, experience and examples in bite-size pieces... about the attention span of someone in the early stages of grief... a sentence or two.

At The Caregiver Space, we encounter many issues having to do with the practical side of after caregiving: the aspects of loneliness, feeling lost, fearful, forgotten by friends and, of course, overwhelmed. Harriets new book will be at the top of my list for both new mourners and those who are sadly stuck in a vicious cycle they see no way out of. Harriet holds your hand, showing you many different ways you can help yourself and see the future.

Adrienne Gruberg, Founder and President, The Caregiver Space, Inc.

Harriet Hodgsons Daisy A Day: Hope for a Grieving Heart captures pearls of raw grief experiences and transforms the pain of grief into healing principles. Her delightful style and wisdom, built on a career of working with grief, transpose daily thoughts into a road map for thriving with small healing steps. (#128). I wish I had the benefit of her book earlier in my grief journey.

Stedman Stevens, author of A Beautiful Life: The Little Things That Help Grieving Families

Beginning with some of the largest and universal questions about grief and loss, Harriet Hodgson avoids the temptation to search for easy answers. Instead, she invites readers to find simple practices to accompany their grief in a way that only someone who has lived with grief can do. Daisy A Day is deeply honest and lovingly practical, making it both a delight to read and a book that can make a difference is someones daily life.

Reverend Luke Stevens-Royer

Harriet Hodgsons personal experiences with losing loved ones has equipped her with an abundance of wisdom which shines through in Daisy A Day. Filled with comfort, understanding, and useful tips, this book is a true gift for anyone facing loss.

Lynda Cheldelin Fell, founding partner, International Grief Institute

This book is for all who grieve.

Grief links us together and we will survive it together.

G rief is part of the human condition. We all go through it, yet when it finds us, life seems unfair. We are devastated and angry. Why did my loved one die now? What will happen to me? Will I ever be happy again? These questions rattle around in our minds. So many thoughts go through our minds we can hardly think. Two minutes after we read an article, we forget it. We walk into a room and wonder why we are there.

Life becomes scary. Some of our feelings are scary too.

I wrote Daisy A Day to understand grief feelings. Grief and I are well acquainted. I am a bereaved wife, mother, daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, cousin, and friend. Four months after my husband died, I started writing this book. I usually have an inkling of what my next book will be. Not this time. Daisy A Day was a surprise, an idea that came to me at four oclock in the morning.