Posts Tagged ‘Dr. Mari Dias’
GriefSpeak: The Masks in the Room – by Dr. Mari Dias
by Dr. Mari Dias Excerpts from “Please hear what I’m not saying” (Charles Finn, 1966) “Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear For I wear a mask, a thousand masks, Masks that I am afraid to take off, and none of them is me… Beneath lies confusion, and fear,…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: Empty Nests
By: Mari Dias “After all these years, all the smiles and the tears I am on the other side, watching my kids take the ride Like me they’ll be too stubborn I know that they won’t see But All it is I want, for them is to be free Happiness and heartbreak, there will be no compromise…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: Missing that human touch
By: Mari Dias “Tell me in a world without pity Do you think what I’m askin’s too much? I just want something to hold on to And a little of that human touch And a little of that human touch” (Bruce Springsteen,1992) Unfortunately, lack of human touch, also known as ‘touch deprivation” or “skin hunger”…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: Zulu Time
By: Mari Dias In today’s world where extreme political correctness, hate, vitriol, and lack of empathy are rife, I decided to go to a happy place. If we remind ourselves, we all have the capacity to do so. In my search for a happy place I was pleased and surprised that I had so many…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: What would you do?
By: Mari Dias I’m the type of person who is likely to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Am I always forgiven? No. Does that discourage me? No. There are so many examples of this that I could write the great American novel, but the story below may provide sufficient evidence. I was teaching a…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: Resilience
GriefSpeak: Resilience By: Mari Dias Resilience. This word is usually defined as “ability to bounce back”, “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties”, “toughness.” This is an admirable trait that lends itself to a successful life, both psychologically and behaviorally. Do you consider yourself resilient? If so, why? If not, why? The bigger question is:…
Read MoreGriefSpeak – A Letter to My Father
By Mari Dias Waiting for Dad This is my 17th Father’s Day without you, and it still feels like it was yesterday. I miss you, Dad. As a young girl, I remember my frustration of having to wait until you came home from work before we were allowed to eat dinner. I thought it was…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: “…like a drop of dew…”
By: Mari Nardolillo Dias “All things hang like a drop of dew upon a blade of grass.” (W.B. Yeats) The First Mortician’s Daughter It was 1906 when Pauline’s father, Angelo, and his older brother, Benedetto, two Italian immigrants from Prata Sannita, Italy emigrated to the United States and ventured into a funeral business in the…
Read MoreGriefspeak – Mother’s Day for Motherless Children
By: Mari Nardolillo Dias, EdD, contributing writer Mother’s Day is upon us, a day filled with celebration or grief. It was 1927 when Blind Willie Johnson recorded the song “Motherless Children”, which was made popular by many, including Bob Dylan, Steven Miller, and Eric Clapton. The lyrics recognize that all children are impacted by the…
Read MoreGriefSpeak: A personal reflection on surviving “stay at home” orders
By: Mari Dias CHOICES I have heard this pandemic compared to several Stephen King novels, “The Hunger Games”, “Divergent”, and for the older folks “The Twilight Zone”. At the outset, everyone scrambled for necessities and followed every edict heard, both nationally and locally. It seems like we have only recently come out of our stupor…
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