Guest: Alexandra Kennedy, MA author of Honoring Grief: Creating a Space to Let Yourself Heal.

Summary: About the book: If you know someone who has suffered loss and is experiencing grief, simply sending a card or flowers may seem insufficient. Many people are unsure how to comfort a friend or loved-one in times of loss. This special book is filled with inspirational wisdom, practical self-help for healing, and makes a meaningful and comforting gift. Written by psychotherapist and grief expert Alexandra Kennedy, Honoring Griefprovides powerful and compassionate advice for dealing with loss. Compatible with any religious or spiritual orientation, this book aims to help readers create a sanctuary—a special space where they are free to work through the difficult emotions that accompany grief. The act of grieving can be overwhelming. That’s why the self-help tips in this book are simple, brief, and effective—ideal for anyone suffering the emotionally and physically exhausting effects of grief. About the author: Alexandra Kennedy, MA is a psychotherapist in private practice since 1976 and author of Losing a Parent (HarperCollins, 1991) and The Infinite Thread: Healing Relationships Beyond Loss (Beyond Words, April 2001), Offerings at the Edge (iUniverse 2007), and How Did I Miss All This Before? Waking Up to the Magic of Our Ordinary Lives (iUniverse, 2010). She was stunned by the power of her grief when her father was diagnosed with cancer in November 1988—even though she had been a psychotherapist for fourteen years and had attended death and dying workshops with Stephen Levine. Her father died three months later. She wrote Losing a Parent in the year following his death, sharing not only the story of her father’s dying and her grieving but also the resources and strategies that helped her move through her grief while raising a family. Since then, she has devoted much of her therapy practice, teaching, and writing to grief. In 2001 The Infinite Thread was published, with an emphasis on healing relationships beyond loss, along with issues not commonly explored, such as the grief handed down through generations. Her most recent book How Did I Miss All This Before?, an intimate account of courageous spiritual transformation in the midst of life’s common challenges, is written for everyone wishing to find greater openness to life in each precious moment. Alexandra lectures at universities, professional organizations and major conferences. Weaving together inspiring case histories, practical advice, and experiential exercises, she provides a unique perspective to grieving through her work with the imagination. She also offers lectures, workshops and seminars on facing loss as an opening to the sacred, the loss of a parent, healing relationships beyond loss, dreams as messengers of the night, women’s spirituality, mid-life renewal, the power of the imagination, the empty nest, and related issues.