4th Annual Memorial Service
A Journey Through Tears
Healing for the Holidays
December 1, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Mt. Pilgrim Church
1401 Hoag St.


Hospice of Northwest Ohio Presents
Facing the Holidays After the Loss of a Loved One
Concurrent Sessions for Adults, Children and Teens
Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007
2 - 4 p.m.
Hospice of Northwest Ohio
Toledo Center
800 South Detroit Avenue
Registration required by Dec. 4.
To RSVP or for more information please call 419-661-4001

Sometimes I need to cover
Up in the quilt of me
To hover underneath
Checking to see if I am still whole
Testing my newness
Trying fresh way.

  - C.F., Toledo, Ohio

Researchers have long known the power of writing and journaling to help soothe both emotional and physical suffering.   Studies show that writing about your problems can strengthen the immune system, reduce depression, and greatly assist healing.   It"s little wonder then that some of the world ’ s best writing has been done by authors and poets suffering from disease, grief, loss, trauma, and other sources of pain and heartache.   

How can writing help ease suffering?  
All you have to do is decide to let the writing do the work for you.   Just as the words printed on Tibetan prayer flags are believed to do the praying for those who hang them in the wind, you can let the words on the page do your suffering for you.   You can let them bear the problem for you while you breathe easy, take a break, feel some peace no matter how brief it may be. Just the process of writing about aspects of your problem takes it outside of you.   Writing allows you to distance yourself from it and look at it from other angles, freeing you from some of the chains that bind you to it.

But I can’ t write!   You may be thinking.  
Oh, yes you can.   Just as pain has no rules, this workshop has no rules.    Supportive facilitators will give suggestions to help you begin, but you will decide what and how to write.   For when it comes to your experience, you are the expert.   No one knows it better than you do.   No one can tell it better than youcan. You cannot make a mistake doing this.   You cannot do this poorly.   Here are some sample exercises from the workshop:

Describe your experience by comparing it to an object in an art museum.
Is it a painting?   A drawing?   A sculpture?  What shape is it? What color(s)? What texture?

Imagine that you are able to time travel into the future and meet the person you Will be in five years. What words of wisdom will that Future You say to the Present You?

What participants have said about The Art of Heartbreak Workshops
It gave me a chance to focus on my experience and crystallize its essence so I could begin healing work.   Writing can bring out images that are surprisingly creative and comforting.   The process is quite non-threatening it invites tackling the magnitude of your experience in a gentle way.   - S.D., Toledo, Ohio

The personal sharing by the members of the class was very uplifting.   Writing down your thoughts is truly cathartic.   I enjoyed the class very much. - B.H., Oregon, Ohio              

Who are the workshop facilitators?
Linda Smith, J.D., Ph.D., is a professor and adviser at The University of Toledo Honors Program.   She has taught writing at the college level for over twenty years, and is the author of Annie Dillard , a literary biography about the contemporary writer and nature-mystic.    Linda has also taught writing and communication seminars in 22 states, and she has conducted retreats and classes in spirituality at the Chiara Center at Lourdes College and at other churches in Northwest Ohio.

Susan Lowrey, M.A., is the director of spiritual formation at Trinity Episcopal Church in Toledo.   A lifelong spiritual educator, Susan holds a Master ’ s Degree in Pastoral Ministries and is trained in spiritual direction through the Shalem Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.   She conducts retreats, workshops, and classes on spirituality, and provides spiritual direction for Toledo-area clergy.

For information about sponsoring a workshop on The Art of Heartbreak, the Poetry of Pain, contact Linda Smith at 419-530-6039 or Susan Lowry
at 419-243-1231.

Interested in being listed in our Speaker's Bureau?
Complete this form and send it to:

NWO HEALS
P.O. BOX 715
Perrysburg, OH 43551