GriefSPEAK:  Beauty too beautiful – Mari Nardolillo Dias

A man standing on top of a mountain with a tripod.

GriefSPEAK:  – Mari Nardolillo Dias By: Dr. Mari Nardolillo Dias  “I embrace moments while simultaneously grieving the thought that they will soon be over.” (Dias, 2022)  Botticelli died in 1510 and yet his art can literally still make someone have a heart attack more than 500 years later. “Can art be so beautiful that it…

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GriefSPEAK: Beyond a pain too beautiful – Mari Nardolillo Dias

An image of a diamond on a black background.

By Mari Nardolillo Dias, contributing writer                                                           She “wears her pain like diamonds” (Alpha), although she told me that she feels like she is on fire, and drowning, simultaneously. She wears a little black dress interrupted only by the glare of the jewels: the cabochon drops like a single tear from a fragile filigree chain around…

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GriefSPEAK: Losing your human – Mari Nardolillo Dias

A black and white photo of a dog.

by Mari Nardolillo Dias, contributing writer Tilly – I know you know that I’m a grief therapy dog. You might remember me running the fence with you at the dog park.  We never spent a lot of time hanging out one-on-one because you mostly sat at your human’s feet or under the bench where he always…

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GriefSPEAK: Ambedo, one with a teardrop – Mari Nardolillo Dias

A group of candles in a row with a blurred background.

By: Mari Nardolillo Dias  Updated May 17, 2024 Ambedo:  “a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details…briefly soaking in the experience of being alive, an act that is done purely for its own sake…”  Erin often experiences ambedo yet finds it disturbing. Rachel experiences ambedo on a weekly basis…

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GriefSPEAK: Time to make your happy box – Mari Nardolillo Dias

A woman sits at a desk and laughs.

by Mari Nardolillo Dias, contributing writer “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I [don’t] feel fine…) R.E.M. Following the loss of a loved one, many feel that it is the end of the world as they know it. And it is. A traditional gift for the grieving is a “memory…

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GriefSPEAK: Happy Birthday, America! – Mari Nardolillo Dias

An american flag floating in the water.

By Mari Nardolillo Dias “…What’s that I smell in the air? The American Dream” (Miss Saigon) Happy Birthday to America! (She, her, hers). America turns 246 years old this Monday. Many feel she has survived but is currently in the intensive care unit. She is unrecognizable for the younger folks – those in my age…

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GriefSPEAK:  “To Jillian, with love…” – Mari Nardolillo Dias

A man is holding a plane on his shoulders at sunset.

By: Mari Nardolillo Dias, contributing writer Jillian was reluctant to share the trauma surrounding her father’s sudden death. You see, she found him and has never spoken about that moment. I encouraged her to “speak her grief”. “I don’t see any redeeming value in reliving the trauma!” she shouted, “I need to erase it from…

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