Grief to Gratitude: Embracing the Inner Pathway to Healing and Peace - Hardcover

by Steven A. Ferrara (Author)

How would you respond in coping with the most painful experience of your life?

That was Steven Ferrara's agonizing question when his son, Christopher, died in a car accident at age twenty-three. Amid intense grieving and anger, Steven was shattered. He knew he had to find a healthier way of dealing with Chris's death for himself and his family.

Daily journaling proved therapeutic. At first, he expressed only raw emotions, but over time, Steven's writing became a new way of communicating with Chris, like learning a new language. One day's entry turned on a light. Steven asked, "What if I look at this from Chris's side of the experience?"

Steven had always supported Chris in his pursuits while he was alive. "What if," Steven asked, "I could see this experience as an ongoing journey--and Chris as a spiritual partner?" Revisiting those journals became the core of Grief to Gratitude, where he could recognize the clear lessons he had learned about being more conscious. Steven shares those vulnerable entries opening each chapter in this book and asks these profound questions:

- What if we could look at death with curiosity instead of fear?

- What if we could look at death from our loved one's side instead of ours?

- What if we had the mindset of "What can be?" instead of "What could have been?" after someone dies?

- What if we could have a grateful heart for the experience?

Steven finds a path from grief to gratitude--and offers the same for readers struggling to awaken from the death of a loved one or other unimaginable loss or tragedy.