Walking in Grace with Grief
Meditations for Healing after Loss
These powerful meditations provide practical comfort for those dealing with grief.
Clear and simple, Della Temple’s Walking in Grace with Grief: Meditations for Healing After Loss is a compact and wise companion for one of the most daunting of human journeys—the loss of a loved one.
Temple revisits the nightmare knock at the door that every parent dreads. “Which one?” she asks. Travel with Temple through losing her twenty-nine-year-old son in a single-car accident. From that loss, she says, “I want to share with you how I walked this path of sorrow and acceptance—not to tell you how you should do it, but to offer you thoughts on how to lessen the pain as you walk your path.”
As she recounts her story, highlighting spiritual practices and beliefs that accompanied her on the journey, she normalizes the process of dealing with hard milestones after a loss. The book is organized to gently guide those in grief to tend to what is in front of them—from initially getting the news, to the sleepless first night, to the unfolding of the first week, and continuing through the first year.
Other chapters highlight the particular challenges of dealing with holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries of the beloved’s passing, as well as coping with well-meaning but poorly informed friends and acquaintances. One of the later meditations addresses this with, “Keeping Pity Energy at Bay.”
At the heart of the book, transcending any specific grief or loss, are the meditation exercises, starting with the most basic at the beginning. She explains the importance of “centering,” then offers the centering meditation. The next chapter similarly explains “grounding,” then segues into the grounding meditation. With eight meditations in all, they are called out in italic in the table of contents and shaded in the book for easy reference. Numbering the meditations might help keep track of them.
These are powerful, evergreen meditations, ripe to be used for all kinds of losses—from loss of a home in fire, to loss of a spouse or younger child, to the passing of a beloved elder, parent, or even a pet.
Few come to the grief journey as prepared as Temple. Her experiences, wisdom, strength of character, and insights come through clearly. With a message that transcends standard fare, combined with training as a psychic and experience along a spacious and openhearted spiritual path, Temple shares an expansive awareness. Everything from consciousness beyond this lifetime to spirit-to-spirit connection, soul contracts, and subtle energetic connections with her son (and others) after their transitions—all are fodder for those willing to entertain these next-level ideas.
Certainly some naysayers will balk. But for many, losing a loved one opens new possibilities for expanded perspectives. Temple and her book are outstanding models. The story of a mother’s sudden loss of an adult child is not the only road of loss. Still, the specificity of her story stands on its own while the meditations provide practical comfort for those dealing with grief.
Reviewed by
Bobbye Middendorf
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
