Knowledge Hub
The Time is Now! What To Do To Be Fully Alive
This short piece ‘The Time Is Now’ was written by my friend Bob German of Young At Any Age. When he sent it to me I just wanted to share it. Full stop. It is so wise. All the statements are summed up in the last one. So how can you…
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Death Chicks – Grief Series Live Stream, November 2016
Loss of a Husband leads to End of Life Planning Learn how one woman (me) from Scotland is using her loss as a catalyst to help others prepare for death. 55 minutes
Read Full PostTalking About Deliberate Ending of a Life…Is it Suicide or Not?
Deliberate ending of a life? Doesn’t that mean suicide? Well, perhaps not. It’s a very challenging subject to talk about, but I feel it’s one that many secretly think about; it just comes out in forms like ‘we treat our pets better than we treat out elderly citizens’, or ‘I…
Read Full PostIs There Room For An Abundance of Emotions in Your Life?
Abundance. Dying. End of Life. Plentifulness. Not words you would normally think of together. But there’s often an abundance of laughter on my Before I Go group programmes and workshops. There’s plentiful amounts of stories, some amusing, some poignant, others educational. Then there’s also fear and anxiety and concern, more traditionally words…
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Cost of Funerals Rising More and More
Cost of funerals these days is going up. No-one wants to know of course. Until they get a big shock (at a time when they are least able to deal with it). The 2016 Cost of Dying Report from SunLife Insurance shows that: Just 1% know ALL the deceased’s funeral…
Read Full Post5 Reasons Why Death and Divorce Are Not the Same Thing – and 5 Why They Are
One day, about 2 years after my husband died, I was at a social occasion with a group of friends I’d known for a while. One of them was suffering the aftermath of a recent divorce, seeing her ex-husband on the arms of a younger woman around town. “Sorry”,…
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3 Non-Actions To Take When Anxiety, Grief and Not-Knowing Are Your Bed Partners
Fear gripped me, like a vice around my guts. I treaded water in the swimming pool in which I had arrived for an early morning dip, before the heat of the day became too much. My friend had called from the terrace rooftop of the villa in which I was…
Read Full PostWhat Sort of Impact Do You Create in The World?
Muhammad Ali made a huge impact in the world throughout his life in many ways, not just his boxing. But he also made an impact in his death too – he had stated beforehand just how he wanted his funeral to be. Not only did this mean his executor and…
Read Full PostPasswords – Keep Private or Share?
In the UK’s Saturday Guardian, Adam Golightly writes an anonymous column (Widower of the Parish) recounting his challenges each week as a new widower and father to two children, since his wife Helen died in early April. This week, he faced another apparently small, but in experience huge, problem. The…
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Barefoot Sanctuary Talk, Edinburgh, March 2016
Love Knows No Boundaries – a 45 minute talk at the Barefoot Sanctuary, near Edinburgh; one of my first on this topic!
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Moray Business Women Showcase, March 2016
Speaking at the Moray Business Women Showcase event on March 16th 2016.
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Planning for the death of a loved one – SAGA March 2016
Jane talks to SAGA Magazine about Gifted By Grief and outlines some of the most important questions from The List.
Read Full PostWhy What You Say to Someone Who Is Grieving Is So Crucial
“Everyone’s grieving is unique, and only luck helps us strike the right note in talking with the bereaved. ” So said Mariella Frostrup in last week’s Observer magazine. Yes, grief is definitely unique in it’s expression through each person. But do we really depend on luck if we are talking…
Read Full PostGrieving, Guilt and Letting Go: 3 Pointers That Help
When your loved one dies initially, your world is consumed with thoughts of them. You expect that, others expect that, and while it is extremely painful, there is a kind of appropriateness about it all. After all, it IS painful when someone dies. But further on, what happens when you…
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Why I’m Not Setting Goals This Year, But An ID Instead
Intention-Directions vs Goals ‘I don’t do setting goals; instead I focus on being me, loving myself as much as possible, taking opportunities that present themselves to me and watching my life unfold before me’. This is a paraphrase of what was said by a woman for whom I have…
Read Full Post5 Tips on How to Cope With Christmas When Your Loved One Has Died
How to cope with Christmas? Even the thought of it can be a nightmare when a loved one has died, and especially a partner, child or other person you were living with. I created this infographic as a quick way to help you with managing not just the day itself, but…
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Interview with Glenn Moore, November 2015
An illuminating conversation with Glenn Moore. It’s all great (not that I am biased, of course!), but particularly check out at 29.38 where I talk about feelings coming and going, and at about 44 minutes in where I answer the question: ‘have you come to any practical understanding of the perennial question…
Read Full PostDeath, Grief and Paris Attacks
When something like the Paris attacks happen, the words ‘gift’ and ‘grief’ absolutely do not sit well together. They are not meant to. How on earth can there be a gift when someone dies? It’s not possible. In the moment, there is only shock (even if you have been prepared for…
Read Full PostTrusting, Waiting, and then Taking a Step Forward
We can relatively easily see that loss might hold a gift for others. But when it happens to us, in the face of unspeakable sorrow, pain or grief, it’s not so easy to see any gifts at all. In fact the idea just goes out the window as you feel…
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3 Tips on How to Cope With Grief
No 1: Open Your Doors to All Feelings Imagine you are a house. Grief (in the form of fear, anger, guilt, sorrow, sadness, despair, you name it) comes knocking at the front door. The instinct is to lock the door and block up the windows to keep it out. But…
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Death Chicks Show – Interview, October 2015
Patty, host of the show said: “We love the openness and how she shares. Jane’s book is like an invitation to explore the places that even SHE says she didn’t want to go, and then she did. That is what I mean by a guide or a way-shower. She goes…
Read Full PostCan Acceptance Really Bring Freedom?
Rant, rage, stomp, fume, blame, criticise, complain, moan. So often this is what we do instead of accepting how things are. It’s as if that very action of accepting will condone the situation, or let someone ‘get off scot free’, or because we don’t know what else to do.…
Read Full PostCould grief REALLY be hiding a gift for you?
Grief hiding a gift? I do not think so! Queuing in the fish and chip shop in the high street of the small Scottish town where I live, I scowled at a man ahead of me in the queue. He was overweight, fiddling with his cigarette packet, and aged about…
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Daily Record Magazine
“Death has taught me to treat life like a gift.” Great article published in the Daily Record magazine today, 12th September: You can read it here: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/cancer-widow-hopes-book-experiences-6425582
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Death Has Taught Me To Treat Life Like A Gift
Great article published in the Daily Record magazine today, 12th September, 2015: You can read it here: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/cancer-widow-hopes-book-experiences-6425582
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What To Do When You’re Hurting Inside…
If you’ve been wounded physically, there are certain things that need to happen to ensure the healthy healing of that wound. We know now that cleanliness in all areas around the wound are crucial to support the body in its brilliant ability to self-heal. So the person tending you needs…
Read Full PostGrief never ends…?
Grief never ends is a very common belief, but it’s not true. Grief changes, because when you grieve a loss you are on a journey, whether you like it or not. A journey is about travelling, learning, growing; making mistakes, discovering and exploring. During this you will be changing; you can’t…
Read Full PostGrief Ambushes – What To Do?
The tears gushed out suddenly when I passed the cream cheese in the supermarket aisle. It was so poignant, seeing this cheese, which I no longer needed to buy, and yet which had been one of the few foods that Philip could eat in his last months.
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