Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief

If you love, you will grieve—and nothing is more mysteriously central to becoming fully human. 

Foreword INDIES Award-Winner — Gold Medal for Self-Help

When a loved one dies, the pain of loss can feel unbearable—especially in the case of a traumatizing death that leaves us shouting, “NO!” with every fiber of our body. The process of grieving can feel wild and nonlinear—and often lasts for much longer than other people, the nonbereaved, tell us it should.

Organized into fifty-two short chapters, Bearing the Unbearable is a companion for life’s most difficult times, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection, compassion, and the very essence of our shared humanity. Dr. Joanne Cacciatore—bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field—accompanies us along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities—as well as her own experience with loss—Cacciatore opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief.

Not just for the bereaved, Bearing the Unbearable will be required reading for grief counselors, therapists and social workers, clergy of all varieties, educators, academics, and medical professionals. Organized into fifty-two accessible and stand-alone chapters, this book is also perfect for being read aloud in support groups.

• It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand
• Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief
• Shattered: Surviving the Loss of a Child (Good Grief Series) (Volume 4)
• A Widow's Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice for the First 5 Years
• Progressing Through Grief: Guided Exercises to Understand Your Emotions and Recover from Loss
• Grieving with Hope: Finding Comfort as You Journey through Loss
• A Widow's Journey: Reflections on Walking Alone
• How To Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies
• Healing a Spouse's Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Husband or Wife Dies (Healing Your Grieving Heart series)
• The Grief Recovery Handbook, 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition: The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce, and Other Losses including Health, Career, and Faith