Monthly reflections from Kevin Keelen.
Each month, our bereavement minister Kevin Keelen shares a short reflection: a thought, a story, or a gentle companion for wherever you are on your grief journey. New writings appear here as they are published.
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Omit the Commit
My millennium started with my sister’s suicide in August of 2000, followed by my nephew’s suicide in August 2004 (not her son). So I’m not so crazy about August, but please bear with me as I repeat this reflection every year; it not only bears repeating, but also sharing, so please feel free to pass…
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Surrendering to Serenity
It took me many years of life and experiences of loss and heartache to begin to truly understand the concept of powerlessness, but once I got it, it changed my perspective on many things. Although it sounds like a negative – ‘powerLESSness,’ and although it sounds like something important is absent, – that we are…
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Let the Guilt Go
Let the Guilt Go I wrote this reflection in May of 2022, and I feel it bears repeating and repeating… Last week as I was driving home from a support group meeting at Stephy’s Place when one of my favorite songs came on the radio, Billy Joel’s, Say Goodbye to Hollywood. The lyrics have always…
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Consistency
It’s not what we do once in while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” Tony Robbins Dear Stephy’s Place Family, I wanted to take a moment this month to reflect on the heartbeat of our support groups: consistency. Before I do so, I want to applaud and thank all you who make…
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Take Good Care
Take Good Care “The voice of grief is rather convincing… This voice in your head is the first thing you hear in the morning and the last thing you hear at night. It drives with you to work. It stays with you at lunch. Its message is so consistent that, because of its repetitive power,…
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The Quest
The Quest I was very active in theater while in college, and I had the awesome opportunity to play the role of Sancho Panza in the musical, Man of La Mancha. It was a blast. I got to follow a crazed knight on his glorious quest, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. Our…
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Navigating the Holidays
Surviving The Big Days The Holidays, Anniversaries, and Birthdays By Kevin J. Keelen It’s pretty much universal knowledge that the holiday season can magnify our feelings of loss and sorrow. These future dates can be so all-consuming that they can emotionally destroy each day leading up to them. And so, I would like to offer…
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Omit the Commit
OMIT THE COMMIT My millennium started with my sister’s suicide in August of 2000, which was followed by my nephew’s suicide in August 2004. Although I’ll never get used to the word suicide, in fact I hate the word, we don’t have any other word to describe this way of dying. And it is the…
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Nature Nurtures
Nature Nurtures The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty…
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Fear Itself
Fear Itself “No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear.” C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed How can someone be here and then not? Even after all my losses, I still can’t wrap my head around it. How can someone be here and then not? When this becomes a reality it…