Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Welcome to The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation Sacramento, California

Whether you are a first-time visitor, a one-time visitor, or you have just moved into the area and are looking for a new church home, we welcome you in the Name of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ, and we ask His blessing upon you! Read More »

Surviving the Seasons of Grief

Lately I have been thinking about grief.  Partly, I think, because we have seen a lot of deaths in our community this past year, and partly because this month marks the tenth anniversary of my father’s passing.  All of us end up grieving for people we love, and losing someone we love is one of the most difficult things we face in life.  Do we know how to survive the loss of someone close to us?  Do we know how to help someone who is grieving?  Here are a few suggestions.

First of all, grief is a process.  I particularly like the writings of Dr. J. William Worden.  His major work, now in its fourth edition, Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy, is the result of many years of research and clinical practice.  Most of us are familiar with the ground breaking work on grief by Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross (On Death and Dying, 1969) where she outlines stages in the grieving process.  Grief is always disturbing, but the difficulty here is that this makes grief something that happens to us and over which we have little or no control.  Worden builds on Ross’s scheme.

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