Tag: death

Keep ‘em talking ; Listen ( suicide )

I am proud to have listened when folks were suicidal and those folks are vital today for having dodged the urge to die

Viktor Frankl, one of the great psychiatrists of the twentieth century, survived the death camps of Nazi Germany. His little book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is one of those life-changing books that everyone should read.

Frankl once told the story of a woman who called him in the middle of the night to calmly inform him she was about to commit suicide. Frankl kept her on the phone and talked her through her depression, giving her reason after reason to carry on living. Finally she promised she would not take her life, and she kept her word.

When they later met, Frankl asked which reason had persuaded her to live?

“None of them”, she told him.

What then influenced her to go on living, he pressed?

Her answer was simple, it was Frankl’s willingness to listen to her in the middle of the night. A world in which there was someone ready to listen to another’s pain seemed to her a world in which it was worthwhile to live.

Often, it is not the brilliant argument that makes the difference. Sometimes the small act of listening is the greatest gift we can give.

Loosing Someone

YOU DON’T JUST LOSE SOMEONE ONCE

You lose them over and over,

sometimes in the same day.

When the loss, momentarily forgotten,

creeps up,

and attacks you from behind.

Fresh waves of grief as the realisation hits home,

they are gone.

Again.

You don’t just lose someone once,

you lose them every time you open your eyes to a new dawn,

and as you awaken,

so does your memory,

so does the jolting bolt of lightning that rips into your heart,

they are gone.

Again.

Losing someone is a journey,

not a one-off.

There is no end to the loss,

there is only a learned skill on how to stay afloat,

when it washes over.

Be kind to those who are sailing this stormy sea,

they have a journey ahead of them,

and a daily shock to the system each time they realise,

they are gone,

Again.

You don’t just lose someone once,

you lose them every day,

for a lifetime.

Donna Ashworth

For anyone grieving, my book ‘loss’ may bring some comfort and hope, that whilst grief is a hard part of our lives, it came from love ♥️ love came first xx

https://amzn.eu/d/fwIp4VX

#griefpoem #losspoetry #griefjourney

Witches : Old English translates to “ wise woman”

“Between 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts — and 20 were executed. While most of the victims were women, some men were also put to death. Perhaps the most infamous case was Giles Corey, an 80-year-old farmer who refused to stand trial after being accused of wizardry. Denied the typically quicker execution of hanging, he was instead “pressed” to death by stones, which were piled on top of him one at a time”.