One of the greatest obstacles to giving unconditional love is our fear that the love may not be returned. We don't realize that the feeling we seek l… - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The five stages - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance - are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief.

It is difficult to accept death in this society because it is unfamiliar. In spite of the fact that it happens all the time, we never see it.

Discovering and being authentic to our-selves, finding out what we want to do and do not want to do — we do this by being committed to our own experiences. We must do everything because it brings us joy and peace, from the job we have to the clothes we wear.