Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief

By Leslee Tessmann

Book Overview

"Sacred Grief" offers an intriguing exploration of the far-reaching ripple effect of present-day opinions about surviving grief's emotional roller coaster and the unnecessary suffering unconsciously... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932690530
• ISBN13: 9781932690538
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Loving Healing Press
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An intriguing viewpoint about grief...

"Sacred Grief" is one women's discovery of her `sacred' self among the chaos of her life. The author, Leslee Tessman, shares the knowledge she gathered through her years of good and bad life changing events (rape, alcoholism, divorce and death). The author writes in a simple manner that allows you to reflect what she is saying to how it pertains to your own life. The chapters in the book; Power of Language, Mischief, Authenticity, Middle Way, Compassion and Making Waves, cover the topics of how she created a sacred life for herself. She very openly states that she is not `telling' us this we should believe or follow what she says, but hopes the understanding of what she has learned may help someone who might need a different approach to overcome grief. She includes an appendix of self reflection questions to ask yourself as you read each chapter. Ms. Tessman state in the book "I shifted from relating to the grief process as something to survive, and instead began the journey of learning to relate to it as `sacred.' By sacred, I mean giving reverence and respect to every precious moment and experience." These few words turned on a light bulb in me and I realized how true these words are to my life. After the loss of my husband, I felt thrown in to the cycle of getting `through' the grieving stages and getting on with life, but everyone is different in how they handle grief. This book helped me understand to love the days I had with my husband and consider them a sacred part of my life. Also, that grief is in our lives more than just in death. It is a part of our lives more than we might think, which is why living a sacred life is important to every day living. I would recommend anyone that has had any type of grief in their lives to consider reading this book. This book gives another option to those looking for answers at the time of grief. It might even give you a `ah-ha' moment to reflect upon! **Thank you to Love Healing Press for the Review Book Copy

An examination of the long term psychological effects of the grieving process

The most devastating thing in anyone's life - the death of a close loved one. "Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief" is an examination of the long term psychological effects of the grieving process and if there's more to it than most people seem to see as they go through the process, an extra element that can help readers recover from their loss much quicker. "Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief" is highly recommended to anyone looking deep into the effects of grief and for community library self-help collections.

A journey

Sacred Grief is one woman's journey to self-understanding. The author makes a great effort to analyze her losses and fears and to make sense of the disabling grief that is felt at different times of her life. Leslie Tessmann is able to delve deep down into her being to make sense of it all and therefore live a more peaceful life. This book gives hope, through understanding, to those who suffer from depression as well as feelings of grief, guilt and imminent doom. I recommend this book to all who find themselves devastated by the sudden loss of a loved one. Use this book as a map to navigate through the retrospection, the grief, the feeling of being at loose ends. This book will help to understand and build a different life. Gunta Krasts Voutyras

The Adventure and Mystery of the Unknown

In "Sacred Grief" Leslee Tessmann relates her spiritual journey into self discovery. She tells of moving from unresolved grief into an awareness and acceptance of the comfort and healing that came when she made a conscious commitment to bringing a sacred context into all of her life. Her story includes incidents that led to emotional trials and stress that resulted in anger, guilt, sadness, loneliness, anxiety, sadness, and pain. She experienced disappointment, self doubt, and uncertainty that left her drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She recounts the process of her experience in exploring and exchanging a new dimension of comfort and healing as she worked through the process of loss, death, grief, and bereavement. Leslee replaced the conventional approach to this anguish by accepting grief as sacred. She explains it this way: "Relating to grief as sacred is like watching a fabulous epic drama of my life unfold and I'm the star. I become curious and interested in each scene and want to stay with it until the very end. I find myself entertained, energized, and surprisingly content." Leslee's father celebrated the adventure and mystery of death as he moved into the unknown during his final days. Leslee describes the pain of losing her father as "poignant moments of tenderness." Authenticity, compassion, generosity, and a global view have an impact in this spiritual journey of experiencing the rewards of "sacred grief." I was intrigued with Leslee's concepts of self induced suffering, of the danger of losing the excitement and exploration of life as a child with the acquired judgment and assessment of the adult. She described how self pity, apathy and depression lead to exhaustion. Along with a reminder that every moment is sacred Leslee reiterates the importance of expressing feelings, and of resolving issues from past relationships. Sacred relationships are based on mutual respect and the freedom to be fully self-expressed. An important study guide is provided for use in individual study or with a support group. A comprehensive bibliography is also included. Leslee leads the reader from chaos to peace as her story unfolds. Her writing is gripping, grounded in reality, often profound, always insightful, dynamic, and sensitive.

Gentle, but powerful book

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (2/08) This simple, yet extremely powerful book, presents a gentle way to discover within oneself a path of recovery from loss, be it from death or any other loss. Tessmann's tender words resonate throughout the book, leading the reader to a place of healing and direction to move forward with life. Tessmann starts off with her own story, a story of struggle with the losses through death: family, friends, and a pet dog. But, there were other losses in her life; her daughter to substance addiction, husbands through divorces, and a job. Her final loss that brought her to re-discover herself was the loss of her father. Through re-discovering herself, and coming to terms with grief, Tessmann was able to create a relationship with grief. This becomes the first step she advocates and gives simple explanations and steps on how to create this relationship. Tessmann says "...our initial reaction to finding ourselves in this process might be fear, anger, or dread." She further claims that often our relationships to grief are based on our own "myths and critical assessments" therefore causing us to refrain from addressing our issues. With clarity and gentleness, Tessmann guides the readers into thinking of their own situation, their own adversity to embracing grief, and moving past the false beliefs and fears, and finally creating a healthy relationship with grief, making it, as she calls it "Sacred Grief." For me this was a book, although only 172 pages, that took a long time to get through. The writing is uncomplicated, yet I felt like the author was right there with me, telling me of her experience, and tenderly encouraging me to look at my own grief. I've been through a variety of techniques in the past to move me into and through dealing with my grief, but never in a way Tessmann's book did. I felt the study guide was very essential to help me through the process and I encourage every reader to stop after every chapter and contemplate the questions, seek the answers within, and then move to the next chapter. This is a must to truly experience the potential "Sacred Grief" has. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has experienced any type of loss in their lives and is willing to look at the loss through a different set of eyes. Tessmann, in "Sacred Grief," will lead the reader to a place of compassion for oneself , create a relationship with his/her own grief, and ultimately create a place of understanding and a healed soul.