Self-guided grief journal helps pave path to healing

(PRLEAP.COM) Self-guided grief journal helps pave path to healing

DALLAS - It began as a tip sheet, just a few pointers to help bereaved
people write through their grief.

It grew into a journal, a sort of literary lifebuoy on the
often-turbulent seas of life and death.

Dallas-based journalist Linda L. Jones created It’s Only
Temporary—A Journal for Surviving Loved Ones, as a way to assist those in mourning. www.manelockcommunications.com/griefjournal.htm

"The grief that follows losing a loved one may never go away, but the
intensity of that grief, the anguish, doesn’t have to last forever, "says Jones, who speaks from experience.

Her only child was stillborn. Several years later, her brother died
from aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder.

Instinctively Jones, a professional writer, reached for the pen to cope
with her tragedies. She found comfort in words that kept their memories alive.

"For me it was very cathartic, it sustained me," she says of
journaling. She also penned letters to her son’s spirit each year, marking the day of his transition.

"If it wasn’t for my faith, I don’t think I would have been able to
handle it," she adds. "I lost my son the day I was to have him. I carried Dorian the full nine months. What I thought was his big kick of life was him dying. I really did not think I was going to survive that. Writing in my journal helped me stay sane."

It was also a path to healing, Jones stresses.

Drawing on her professional and personal experiences, she began
conducting memoir and grief writing workshops.

Carol Anne Gordon, a family services coordinator for the Southwest
Transplant Alliance, attended one of Jones’ workshops. She was so impressed that she told her co-workers about it. Her manager asked Jones to create a tip sheet on journaling through grief and invited her to share some of the tips at the transplant alliance’s appreciation
dinner for donor families.

The positive response Jones received at the appreciation dinner last
spring convinced her of the need for an instructive journal.

"This one really came from my heart," she says of It’s Only Temporary.

She wrote it to be a companion, a confidant for the bereft.

Although Jones initially wondered whether the slender, soft-cover
journal would be enough at 59-pages, she’s come to realize that it’s ideal for getting any writer started.

"I didn’t want it to be too demanding, just a gentle nudge," Jones
explains.

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