It'S Ok That You'Re Not Ok: Meeting Grief And Loss In A Culture That Doesn'T Understand

It'S Ok That You'Re Not Ok: Meeting Grief And Loss In A Culture That Doesn'T Understand

As seen in THE NEW YORK TIMES ? READER'S DIGEST ? SPIRITUALITY & HEALTH ? HUFFPOSTFeatured on NPR's RADIO TIMES and WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO When a painful loss or life-shattering event upends your world, here is the first thing to know: there is nothing wrong with grief. "Grief is simply love in its most wild and painful form," says Megan Devine. "It is a natural and sane response to loss." So, why does our culture treat grief like a disease to be cured as quickly as possible? In It?s OK That You?re Not OK, Megan Devine offers a profound new approach to both the experience of grief and the way we try to help others who have endured tragedy. Having experienced grief from both sides?as both a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner?Megan writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, "happy" life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it. In this compelling and heartful book, you?ll learn: ? Why well-meaning advice, therapy, and spiritual wisdom so often end up making it harder for people in grief ? How challenging the myths of grief?doing away with stages, timetables, and unrealistic ideals about how grief should unfold?allows us to accept grief as a mystery to be honored instead of a problem to solve ? Practical guidance for managing stress, improving sleep, and decreasing anxiety without trying to "fix" your pain ? How to help the people you love?with essays to teach us the best skills, checklists, and suggestions for supporting and comforting others through the grieving process Many people who have suffered a loss feel judged, dismissed, and misunderstood by a culture that wants to "solve" grief. Megan writes, "Grief no more needs a solution than love needs a solution." Through stories, research, life tips, and creative and mindfulness-based practices, she offers a unique guide through an experience we all must face?in our personal lives, in the lives of those we love, and in the wider world.It?s OK That You?re Not OK is a book for grieving people, those who love them, and all those seeking to love themselves?and each other?better.Review?It?s OK That You?re Not OK is a permission slip to feel what you feel, do what you do, and say what you say, when life finds you in a place of profound loss and the world seems hell-bent on telling you the right way to get back to being the person you'll never again be.? ?Jonathan Fields, author of How to Live a Good Life, founder of Good Life Project?Megan Devine has captured the grief experience: grief is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be honored. She understands the pain that grieving people carry on top of their actual grief, including the pain of being judged, dismissed, and misunderstood. It?s OK That You?re Not OK is the book I?ve been waiting for for 30 years?the one I can recommend to any newly bereaved parent, widow, widower, or adult grieving a death.? ?Donna Schuurman, senior director of advocacy and training at The Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families?In this beautifully written offering for our broken hearts, Megan Devine antidotes the culture?s messed up messages about bearing the unbearable. We don?t have to apologize for being sad! Grief is not a disease from which we must be cured as soon as possible! Rather, the landscape of loss is one of the holiest spaces we can enter. Megan serves as our fearless, feisty, and profoundly compassionate guide.? ?Mirabai Starr, translator of Dark Night of the Soul: John of the Cross and author of Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation?This book is POWERFUL. Too many grief books focus on ?getting over it,? but this book says: ?Look grief in the eye. Sit with it.? It?s OK That You?re Not OK comes at grief with no flinching. It?s intellig