HELPING TO HEAL THE WORLD ONE BOOK AT A TIME

When my husband died after a two and a half-year illness, I thought that my life was over. Facing the loss of my husband was so very difficult because loving is so all-encompassing; love took most of my emotional energy as I embraced my husband. I cared that he was fulfilled and well. I wanted to protect him and make him happy. I was devoted. So much so that losing him felt crippling. And so, when he was gone, I had to learn how to transform this energy into something positive. Not a "substitute," but a conversion, from a "we" to an "I."

With the help of a bereavement support group and loving friends and family, I grieved and healed and, finally, while forever cherishing the loving memory of my late-husband, went on to a new life of purpose, joy, and eventually, love.

This experience lead me to write THE HEALING POWER OF GRIEF: The Journey Through Loss to Life and Laughter (Sourcebooks, Inc.) with the help of my co-author, Marilyn Stolzman, Ph.D., a psychotherapist specializing in grief counseling and the Director of H.O.P.E. Unit Foundation in Los Angeles, an honored bereavement support group. Along with my story, this book offers her vision of healing with tools, not psychobabble, a blueprint as it were, to help others face their loss, mourn, and eventually, heal.

This book is also the story of other men and women -- spouses and life-partners -- willing to share their experience so that others might benefit. Dr. Stolzman and I felt it important to also include a Workbook to help others to explore their feelings in a positive way in order to facilitate healing, and to provide important and much needed resources where both the traditional and non-traditional communities can turn to for help.

After co-authoring THE HEALING POWER OF GRIEF, many readers asked: "What's next? Must my life be forever without a spouse or partner?

And so, Dr. Stolzman and I went on to explore the next stage of life in THE HEALING POWER OF LOVE: Transcending the Loss of a Spouse to New Love (Sourcebooks, Inc.), a collection of twenty-four honestly told, uplifting and inspirational stories of new, loving relationships following the loss of a spouse or partner as each recognized the life-affirming, vitally important, next step; the often disquieting yet exhilaratingly overlap of grieving and finding new love that can only unfold through a commitment to healthy grieving and the willingness to move forward.

Wishing you peace and healing, Gloria Lintermans