135 - Sherry Cormier Shares the Upside of Grief

Sherry Cormier is a psychologist who specializes in grief mentoring. She’s the author of Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness after Loss and Grief. She wrote the book over the last decade after experiencing loss and learning how to become whole again. Today we talk about that period of her life and how going through the process of grieving ultimately opened and expanded Sherry's life. She decided that writing a book in the immediate aftermath of trauma would not allow her to give people the best long-term guidance; effectively, her book took ten years to write! Today we talk about: How to grow from traumatic experiences: What it means to reboot or restart The illusion of control Different types of grief: Prolonged grief, seasonal grief, collective grief & more Post traumatic growth: how losses bring gains Her opinion on antidepressants Visitation dreams after you lose someone  Why she prefers to call it Transition not Death Strategies for early grief stages: Self-care (Move), Spiritual practice (Meditate), Connection (Connect) And so much more Sherry is a true gift to this world. She has come to this place in life where she can truly help others through a mix of life experiences and honing her specialties. As she says, “When we pull our brains back from tomorrow and our hearts back from yesterday, we find the sweetness.” I love Sherry’s approach to life, love and loss. I learned a new concept that makes so much sense to me – post traumatic growth. I just wrapped up a week during the Skirt Sports Ambassador Retreat where many women shared their stories of hardship, their struggles and came out the other side stronger. Loss helps us grow. Just ask Sherry. Her final nugget is one of my favorites ever: Remember that what you focus on expands. Love. Worry. Peace. Judgment. Positivity. When you focus on something, it becomes bigger, so when you find yourself focusing on the dark side, remember that you’re only giving it more power and find a way to shift to the good side. For more Sherry Cormier: Buy the book on Amazon: Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness After Loss and Grief Sherry's website: www.sherrycormierauthor.com Twitter: @sweetsorrowbook Facebook: @SweetSorrow Instagram: @cormier1749 Mayo Clinic resource for grief and loss here