Healing Your Grieving Heart for Teens

100 Practical Ideas

Alan D Wolfelt, Alan Wolfelt

• Publisher: Companion Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9781617220791
• Year: 2001

With sensitivity and insight, this series offers suggestions for healing activities that can help survivors learn to express their grief and mourn naturally. Acknowledging that death is a painful, ongoing part of life, they explain how people need to slow down, turn inward, embrace their feelings of loss, and seek and accept support when a loved one dies. Each book, geared for mourning adults, teens, or children, provides ideas and action-oriented tips that teach the basic principles of grief and healing. These ideas and activities are aimed at reducing the confusion, anxiety, and huge personal void so that the living can begin their lives again. Included in the books for teens and kids are age-appropriate activities that teach younger people that their thoughts are not only normal but necessary.

Table of contents

• Also by Alan Wolfelt:
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• 1. - Understand the difference between grief and mourning.
• 2. - Understand the concept of “reconciliation.”
• 3. - Attend the funeral or memorial service.
• 4. - UNDERSTAND THE SIX NEEDS OF MOURNING
• 5. - UNDERSTAND THE SIX NEEDS OF MOURNING
• 6. - UNDERSTAND THE SIX NEEDS OF MOURNING
• 7. - UNDERSTAND THE SIX NEEDS OF MOURNING
• 8. - UNDERSTAND THE SIX NEEDS OF MOURNING
• 9. - UNDERSTAND THE SIX NEEDS OF MOURNING
• 10. - Tell the story, over and over again if you need to.
• 11. - Use the name of the person who died.
• 12. - Keep a journal.
• 13. - Keep a memento of the person who died.
• 14. - Keep promises to yourself.
• 15. - Let yourself feel numb.
• 16. - Live life in slow-mo.
• 17. - Let go of destructive myths about grief and mourning.
• 18. - Move toward your grief, not away from it.
• 19. - Expect all kinds of feelings.
• 20. - Don’t expect yourself to mourn in a certain way or in a certain time.
• 21. - Know that your relationship was unique.
• 22. - Cry.
• 23. - Laugh with friends.
• 24. - Don’t let other kids get to you.
• 25. - Take it easy on yourself.
• 26. - Go with the flow.
• 27. - Drink lots of water.
• 28. - Eat foods that are good for you.
• 29. - Sleep tight.
• 30. - If the person died after a lengthy illness, understand that you’ll still need to mourn.
• 31. - If the person died because of an illness, learn about and raise money to cure it.
• 32. - If the person who died was killed accidentally, talk to someone about your “if-onlys.”
• 33. - If the person who died completed suicide, know that he made his own choice.
• 34. - Release your anger in constructive ways.
• 35. - If you have a pet, let her comfort you.
• 36. - Know that it’s normal to grieve when your pet dies.
• 37. - Honor your pet.
• 38. - Memorialize the person who died.
• 39. - Contribute to a gift that lasts forever.
• 40. - Plant a tree.
• 41. - Take on a mission.
• 42. - Volunteer.
• 43. - Do something fun. Dedicate it to the one you lost.
• 44. - Take the person who died on an outing.
• 45. - Know that the one you lost is with you in spirit.
• 46. - Do something you’re good at.
• 47. - Do something you’re not so good at.
• 48. - Do something to improve yourself.
• 49. - Do something the person who died liked to do.
• 50. - Go surfing.
• 51. - Go for a long drive.
• 52. - Watch the sun rise.
• 53. - Surround yourself with smells.
• 54. - Don’t techno-escape.
• 55. - Rearrange your room.
• 56. - Light a candle.
• 57. - Buy a new poster.
• 58. - Get a plant for your room.
• 59. - Listen to music.
• 60. - Pamper yourself. If you’re a girl, try this.
• 61. - Pamper yourself. If you’re a guy, try this.
• 62. - Get a pen pal.
• 63. - Write a letter to the person who died.
• 64. - Visit the cemetery.
• 65. - Visit a place of worship.
• 66. - Pray.
• 67. - Own your feelings.
• 68. - Pour yourself into life.
• 69. - Simplify your life.
• 70. - Read.
• 71. - See the world anew.
• 72. - Enjoy the creative expression of others.
• 73. - Ask about someone else’s loss.
• 74. - Remember the good times.
• 75. - Make a memory book or memory box.
• 76. - Share the memories.
• 77. - Remember others who had a special relationship with the person who died.
• 78. - Ignore hurtful advice.
• 79. - Don’t be scared by “griefbursts.”
• 80. - Reach out and touch.
• 81. - Identify your needs. Then ask for help.
• 82. - Turn to your friends for support.
• 83. - Turn to your faith.
• 84. - Turn to your family.
• 85. - Help your family mourn.
• 86. - Seek out your school counselor.
• 87. - Join a support group.
• 88. - Spend time alone.
• 89. - Don’t numb the pain in unhealthy ways.
• 90. - Get help if you’re really depressed or thinking about hurting yourself.
• 91. - Look for your grief on certain days.
• 92. - Know that you are loved.
• 93. - Know that to love is to one day mourn.
• 94. - Make plans. Set goals.
• 95. - Understand that healing comes in increments.
• 96. - Count your blessings.
• 97. - Consider the mystical forces of the universe.
• 98. - Allow yourself the luxury of time.
• 99. - Strive to grow through grief.
• 100. - Make a wish.
• A Final Word
• SEND US YOUR IDEAS FOR HEALING YOUR GRIEVING HEART!
• ALSO BY ALAN WOLFELT