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.
-
Let’s Adapt
LET’S ADAPT Dear Friends, As has become our tradition at Stephy’s Place, we closed for the first two weeks in July for a brief hiatus. It’s kind of funny how often we may not realize we need a break until we actually take one! I confess I enjoyed my break, but I have missed my…
-
Reflection, June 23, 2020
Dear Friends, In today’s entry in Grief One Day at a Time, Dr. Wolfelt says, “‘Clean pain’ is the normal pain that follows difficult life experiences. ‘Dirty pain’ is the damaging, multiplied pain we create when we catastrophize, judge ourselves, or allow ourselves to be judged by others.” The huge difference between these types of…
-
June 16
Dear Friends, As you may know by now my family lost yet another beloved member last week. It really is kind of surreal and I find myself struggling to articulate how it all feels. My brother in law, Jack O’Keefe who was only 69, was a truly good husband to my sister Colleen and father…
-
Reflection, June 02, 2020
Dear Friends, “When someone we love dies traumatically, we feel frighteningly uprooted, markedly insecure, and our ability to trust in the world feels gravely threatened – and indeed it is gravely threatened.” (Joanne Cacciatore, PhD, Bearing the Unbearable) I must confess that I am finding it difficult to reflect and to write as my brain…
-
Reflection, May 27, 2020
Dear Friends, Although many of us, if not most of us, are yearning to get back to ‘normal’ so to speak, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, the normal we used to know is no more. Those of us who are grieving understand this, or are coming to understand it, in a profoundly personal…
-
Reflection, May 18, 2020
Dear Friends, Our Director, Sheila, and I are currently co-facilitating a new Zoom group for people who have lost loved ones to COVID19 as well as other losses during this time of Corona. It is heart-wrenching to hear the stories of separation while loved ones passed as well as the unusual and difficult impediments placed…
-
Reflection, May 18, 2020
Dear Friends, Our Director, Sheila, and I are currently co-facilitating a new Zoom group for people who have lost loved ones to COVID19 as well as other losses during this time of Corona. It is heart-wrenching to hear the stories of separation while loved ones passed as well as the unusual and difficult impediments placed…
-
Reflection, May 10, 2020
Dear Friends, Mother’s Day has come and gone. Without a doubt, this one was strange and difficult for everybody, particularly for those who are grieving. Days like this, and anniversaries, birthdays, and so many other dates quite often hit chords even when they may not be expected. These days are not just difficult for those…
-
Reflection, May 07, 2020
May 7, 2020 Dear Friends, I want to very much thank you all for the well wishes and prayers for my nephew Patrick. He is finally on the mend and hopefully this time he will continue to get stronger and healthier. He is being well cared for and monitored at home. It was a terrifying…
-
Reflection, May 06, 2020
Dear Friends, Today I am going to steal (lovingly borrow) Dr. Alan Wolfelt’s entire passage from, Grief One Day at a Time, the book we use to start every support group session at Stephy’s Place, as I feel it speaks volumes to where we all may be right now: “Some days we feel we can’t…