#MondaysMoments

January 29 2024

We’ll close this month’s posts with a poem by Jocelyn Soriano that speaks to how we run on empty – because we don’t let go of love!  We do not really let go of love;  We hold on to it. W...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, January 29, 2024

January 22 2024

Grief can deplete us of our energy, so how do we run on empty? In the Koch Funeral Home arrangement room there is a small birds nest with tiny little eggs. We place it there to remind us that famil...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, January 22, 2024

January 15 2024

The dual-process model of grief emphasizes that mourners oscillate between feeling the stresses of the loss and the stresses of restoring their lives – sometimes we feel the pain and sometimes we a...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, January 15, 2024

January 8 2024

How do we run on empty when we’re grieving? As we discussed last week, resolutions and intentions can help. Resolutions can help get us moving when we feel stuck. Intentions can help us be open to ...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, January 8, 2024

January 1 2024

We wish you a meaningful New Year’s Day! If you are creating New Year’s resolutions today, we encourage you to create some intentions as well. Resolutions are usually specific and measureable where...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, January 1, 2024

December 25 2023

For those of you celebrating today, we wish you a meaningful Christmas. We’ll close this month’s posts with a wish for the candles you might light during this holiday season. Candles of joy, despi...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, December 25, 2023

December 18 2023

I’ve had the opportunity to spend days in silent retreats. Sometimes I was by myself. At other times, I was with groups of people and I was struck by how profound those experiences were. Instead of...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, December 18, 2023

Previous Posts

December 11 2023

I wasn’t always comfortable with the concept of, “Dare! Silence.” I grew up in a house with five kids and two parents, so silence was not something that happened often. When I began to practice a s...

December 4 2023

This month’s theme is “Dare! Silence.” Silence is very important throughout our lives, especially on our grief journeys. Silence can be intimidating, and we often try to fill it when we encounter i...

November 27 2023

To close this month, please read Anne Hillman’s poem, “We Look With Uncertainty” as you notice “something new is being born in” you while making new treasured memories. We look with uncertainty be...

November 20 2023

My favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. In terms of the meanings behind other holidays, I’m all in. But I can do without their hype and commercialization. So as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, ...

November 13 2023

As I was writing this month’s posts about our theme of “Memories Become Treasures,” the song “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac started to play. When our youngest child went off to college, this song mad...

November 6 2023

This month’s theme is “Memories Become Treasures.” In a recent grief education and support group I was leading we talked about looking at old photographs of deceased loved ones and how those pictur...

October 30 2023

To close out this month, read these words of poet John O'Donohue: The dead are not distant or absent. They are alongside us. When we lose someone to death, we lose their physical image and presenc...