Losing a Parent: Passage to a New Way of Living

Losing a Parent: Passage to a New Way of Living

By: Alexandra Kennedy  

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Publisher: HarperOne

Release Date: 1991-06-21

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
My poetic throughts on the loss of my mother - MOTHER DEAR

(Oh mother dear, I miss you like never before)

Where are your warm hugs?
Have they cracked and wilted in your empty arms

Where are your sweet smiles?
Have they dried and shriveled on your cold lips

Where are your funny jokes?
Have they turned to dust and lay at your feet
To whom will comfort me?
To whom will dry my tears?
To whom will I lay my head,
When no one else is near?

(Oh mother dear, I need you more than ever)

Where have you been?
Have you finally been laid to rest

Where are you now?
Are you flying high with the angels?
OR
Are you down in the deep dark well?

Call Me Sonya Grey: A Young Girl's Poems about Death, Life and Adolescence

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
This book helped me heal. - This touching, insightful book was suggested to me by someone I hardly knew. When I heard the title, I wasn't sure what to expect--but it came so highly recommended. The woman who told me about it said the book had changed her entire perspective on her loss and on loss in general. When I picked up the book, it promised an exciting journey different from anything I'd ever experienced. One of the reviews on the back and another one on the inside gave hint of "ancient shamanistic rituals" updated so that readers could attain some peace and understanding. Indeed, Ms. Kennedy offers a new inner world to explore through various meditative exercises. These journeys felt to me not like hopping on the New Age train, as some reviewers have suggested, but instead like traveling inward to a world that connects us all--one that lies beyond language and "practical" advice. The author helped me to connect with my mother, to others who have experienced loss, and to my inner self (the one I usually only meet in dreams). There were plenty of practical suggestions--but I am certain it is practical to view and experience loss of a loved one as a deep and ever-changing experience that cannot be explored in a linear fashion. I hope that more people will give such exploration a chance. Many of Ms. Kennedy's suggestions are simple, beautiful, and effective, such as visualizing your parent so you can say the good-bye you may never have said. After I did, following her simple suggestions, I released feelings I hadn't even known were there. This book helped me heal in places I didn't know existed, and in ways I had not previously understood were available to me. I urge you to explore this transformative book!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
A wonderful guide to surviving the loss of a parent - Sensitive, thoughtful, mindful and wise. There are many fine books on this unasked-for but inescapable life passage, and this one is among the best. I can't recommend it highly enough. Invaluable to anyone who is experiencing, or preparing in anticipation for, the loss of a parent. There is light at the other end of that life tunnel, which our parents in their own time had to face for themselves in losing their own parents, and this book is a wonderful and caring guide to facing the journey with honesty, compassion, dignity and grace for all concerned. A wonderful book for a difficult passage, and to making or re-making a soundly anchored and good life afterwards.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Tools for transformation! - My mother died a year ago on October 8th, 2006, also my birthday. It has been a difficult year to say the least, but one of great healing and transformation. The work that Alexandra Kennedy offers in her books are tools to aid you in the grieving process. She does not tell you that you have to do anything (that some reviewers seem to have misinterpreted). The tools she offers for the grief process such as creating a Sanctuary have helped to support my inner journey through grief. The Sanctuary gave me a small amount of time, 15-30 minutes, no more, to just sit and be, and allow myself to feel whatever was present at that time. I journal through this process all year and I cannot express fully in words, the deep healing that has occurred and continues to unfold for me.
What I most appreciate about Losing a Parent, was Alexandra's own openness
and vulnerability in sharing her grief process with the reader. I shared many of the same feelings and it helped me to not feel alone in my grief (or crazy for that matter) that we do go through a process and we don't ever "get over it" as many people seem to believe today.
In Losing a Parent not only did Alexandra Kennedy share her own experiences but she offered the experiences of her clients as well. I found this very supportive as a way of acknowledging for me, the waves of grief and the array of emotions that I have felt at any given moment.
I had a very strong meditation and spiritual practice in place, but the loss of my mom put me in a different place, one that tore down my very insides in a way I did not think I could ever heal. But working with Alexandra Kennedy and reading her works "The Infinite Thread", "Losing a Parent" and a book of beautiful poems "Offerings at the Edge", I received the gift of hope, faith, and healing!
The inner relationship that Alexandra Kennedy formed with her father that she so sweetly and courageously describes in Losing a Parent, I too can say I have formed with my mom today. It is because of the great healing and gentle way Alexandra Kennedy lead me through my own personal process with the grief and loss of my mother.
I can say from my own personal experience that the work Alexandra Kennedy brings through her books as well as her life's work as a psychotherapist, is one of great healing, compassion, and transformation. For all who wish to do the inner work, using the suggestions and tools Alexandra Kennedy recommends, for you an abundant source of healing and transformation is possible! I highly recommend the works of Alexandra Kennedy as well as attending her workshops, classes or private sessions.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
just what I was looking for - I just picked up the book, Losing a Parent, and I cannot put it down. I am so glad I encountered it because already it has been so helpful and comforting for me. It is honestly the first book that I have read on the subject that I actually feel has helped me and given me hope to heal.

--> Find out more about "Losing a Parent: Passage to a New Way of Living" at Amazon.com or Order Now