Life After Loss: A Practical Guide to Renewing Your Life After Experiencing Major Loss

I have given this book to many of my friends who have lost a spouse, and it has been a great help to them--it has been better than flowers or a sympathy card! And they un turn have passed it on to a friend that has also lost a spouse.

The book "Life After Loss" by Bob Deits was given to me by one of my friends when my mother died in January of 2000 from cancer. I'll have to admit that when he gave it to me, the last thing I wanted to do was read it. I was interested in nothing,and even if I would have read it at that time, I wouldn't have remembered it. I was numb. After a few months I pulled the book out from under a big pile of my mother's things in my closet. I was going to look at it, but I didn't want to get upset again so I didn't think about it for another 4 months. When I finally sat down to read it, it wasn't a sad book like I was scared of. It actually helped me to cope with my mom's loss and to like myself again. I no longer felt guilty or ashamed. I learned that things happen because "we live in an imperfect world." I know that this isn't the kind of report that you may want, but I just wanted to let people know that this book can help you. Everyone going through a loss of any kind should read this book and refer to it when they get down again about their loss or losses. Believe me, this book helps...even when it is the last thing you may want to see and especially read. I went through it and now I am so glad that I read it.

I met Bob in 1989 and he gave a signed copy of the first edition. I loaned my "precious" copy to a friend who had a recent loss. Every time I bought a copy to replace the original it did not last long in my book collection. After the fifth time I loaned my copy out and hesitated to ask for it back, I realized it was a much more personal gift than flowers. I was even more surprised to learn that many recipients will re-gift it again and again. I must have given out 50 copies over the years.

I have ready many books about loss. This was the best. I lost my husband 6 months ago. This helped me tremendoulsy. I read it in Spanish and English English ver. is called Life after Loss.Un libro que me ayudo tremendamente - lo recomiendo.

On January 27, 1991, I scoured the bookstores of Southern California trying to find the following title: "What to Do When You Find Out that Your Baby Doesn't Have a Brain." I had just left UCLA and I was stunned to learn that after 28-months of painful, infertility treatment that the child we had dreamed of bore such a terrible birth defect.After I left my fourth bookstore, I realized that no one had ever written a book about the specific situation I was living through. Happily, I did encounter a title called, "Life After Loss" that day.Life After Loss saved my life. My first copy is dog eared, tea stained, tear stained, filled with momentos, and much loved. In the subsequent eight years, I have bought at least 30 copies of the book to distribute to friends and associates going through grief.I learned that our society is embarrased by the display of pain. To keep myself sane, I had to learn to express it. In Life After Loss I learned that you can't go around grief, that you have to go through it.I learned that my sorrow wouldn't engulf me if I understood what to expect from the grief cycle.I grew to understand and have empathy for the small and large losses each of experience in our daily lives. I learned how courageous it is just to get out of bed in the morning when you're hurting. Life After Loss is a road map to your new life. I pray that your future will lead you to your dreams, as mine has.