Welcome!
This is Your Place to Quickly Move Beyond Grief to a Life of Grace.
Our mission is to help everyone suffering a great loss to see that there is an alternative to grieving. It is to Grieve With Grace.
Together we will build, stone by stone, an archway of Grace over the raging torrent of tears we feel as inescapable grief.
Together we will also help others who are affected replace the numbing sadness of grief with Gratitude, Resilience, Authenticity, Creativity, and Empathy.
Together, we will all move Beyond Grief to Grace.
Jan’s Prayer…
“I wrote this Anthem to express my gratitude to all who have listened, commiserated and guided me towards my ‘NEXT’ life. We all want to love and be loved again. We can when you find life after grief… With Grace.” ~ Eric Richard Haas September 22, 2022 (The first day of fall and Jan and my favorite time of year.)
Retrospective: Hospice is Caring Not Curing…
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ~ Leo Buscaglia Exactly 3 years ago today I had the conversation no...
Give Thanks For Gratitude
"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." ~ Henry Van Dyke Gratitude Matters... It is the first letter/word in GRACE: Gratitude... Resilience......
Incremental Improvements = Legendary Wealth & Health
"Transformation in real life is extraordinarily incremental, and that's all I'm going to say." ~ Jillian Michaels Change is constant. How you respond matters... You want to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. I get it... BUT... We are now in a Survival of the Smartest...
You Are A Winner, But…
"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals." ~ Larry Bird You must know what game you are playing if you expect to win it! As I said before, life is not an...
What’s Your Vision of Legendary Wealth?
"Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness." ~ Anne Frank Is it a house or a home you are pursuing? It is time to...
Wealth Over Time: WHY?
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages." ~ William Shakespeare You'll spend the time anyway, so why not leave a Legacy? In...
Legendary Wealth: The Freedom to Explore
"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends." ~ Maya Angelou What is the value of Legendary Wealth? For...
Our 5 Losses: The Future
“Suddenly she realized that what she was regretting was not the lost past but the lost future, not what had not been but what would never be.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald A Thought On Loss... This morning as I was running through my prayers and random thoughts I ruminated...
Moving Forward vs. Moving On…
"You have to come to your closed doors before you get to your open doors... What if you knew you had to go through 32 closed doors before you got to your open door? Well, then you'd come to closed door number eight and you'd think, 'Great, I got another one out of the...
The Power of Empathy
"The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy." ~ Meryl Streep What is empathy? Empathy is not just understanding what someone is going through. Nor is empathy simply pitying someone or feeling compassion toward them. It is the ability to put...
The Real You
Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world. ~ Adam Grant Being you, in an authentic manner, can be difficult when your world has been overturned. When we are first in grief, our brains are...
Resilience. Really?
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. ~ Jamais Cascio I like this thought: “Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. The goal of resilience is to...
Why Gratitude?
I am happy because I'm grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy. ~ Will Arnett My Gratitude Story... Over the course of my life, I’ve seen how easy it is to be overwhelmed and literally unable to function when faced with a life-altering...
Resiliently Grateful
"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good." ~ Elizabeth Edwards...
Natural Gratitude
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero Are You Naturally Grateful? For too many years to count, I have noticed there are two kinds of people... Naturally grateful... And those of us who have to work...
Gratitude: More Than a Feeling
"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." ~ Napoleon Hill This Morning... The picture above is from my view across our golf course to Mount San Jacinto. Snow at the top, emerald green...
Gratitude: Savoring Life
"I want to tell everybody to celebrate every day, to savor the day and be good to yourself, love yourself, and then you can be good to others and be of service to others." ~ Charlotte Rae Be Grateful ~ Savor Life... When we think of being grateful or thankful for what...
Movement Then Momentum
"The bigger goal of giving all parents more choices is one that will have to be discussed and undoubtedly roundly debated, but we are going to have to continue to build the case. The momentum is there on the state level in many states. That's where the energy needs to...
My First Rememberance
"A long time ago there was an enchanted princess who lived and loved and then loved even more... until one day when she was called home to heaven. She left our Earthly bounds but still shines her soul upon us even now. This beautiful woman was named Princess Janice...
Life Is Like A Basket of Roses…
Or is it "Life is like a box of chocolates..." We all remember Forrest Gump. Mamma says... Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get. To the Grateful person, this is a good thing. But to the cynics and naysayers, losing control is...
Retrospective: Hospice is Caring Not Curing…
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ~ Leo Buscaglia Exactly 3 years ago today I had the conversation no...
Love: A 3 Year Retrospective
"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." ~ Aristotle As we move beyond the searing pain of a life cut short, we start to realize that GRACE matters. It was today, 3 years ago that Jan asked me a profound question, "Am I going to die?" Never once, in...
The Real You
Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world. ~ Adam Grant Being you, in an authentic manner, can be difficult when your world has been overturned. When we are first in grief, our brains are...
Resilience. Really?
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. ~ Jamais Cascio I like this thought: “Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. The goal of resilience is to...
Death of a Child
“Just as it is impossible to explain childbirth to a woman who has never given birth, it is impossible to explain child loss to a person who has never lost a child.” ― Lynda Cheldelin Fell Loss... I've lost my grandparents. I've lost my father. But nothing could...
The Hope: Resilience
"Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But, you keep going." ~ Yasmin Mogahed Jumping Out Of a Perfectly Good Airplane... Have you ever wanted to just jump out of a plane... Do some...
Resiliently Grateful
"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good." ~ Elizabeth Edwards...
Emotionally Resilient
"Boldness doesn't mean rude, obnoxious, loud, or disrespectful. Being bold is being firm, sure, confident, fearless, daring, strong, resilient, and not easily intimidated. It means you're willing to go where you've never been, willing to try what you've never tried,...
My First Rememberance
"A long time ago there was an enchanted princess who lived and loved and then loved even more... until one day when she was called home to heaven. She left our Earthly bounds but still shines her soul upon us even now. This beautiful woman was named Princess Janice...
Really, Me?
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." ~ C. S. Lewis The Journey From Despair to Grace... I like to think of...
Moving Forward vs. Moving On…
"You have to come to your closed doors before you get to your open doors... What if you knew you had to go through 32 closed doors before you got to your open door? Well, then you'd come to closed door number eight and you'd think, 'Great, I got another one out of the...
The Real You
Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world. ~ Adam Grant Being you, in an authentic manner, can be difficult when your world has been overturned. When we are first in grief, our brains are...
Resilience. Really?
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. ~ Jamais Cascio I like this thought: “Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. The goal of resilience is to...
Death of a Child
“Just as it is impossible to explain childbirth to a woman who has never given birth, it is impossible to explain child loss to a person who has never lost a child.” ― Lynda Cheldelin Fell Loss... I've lost my grandparents. I've lost my father. But nothing could...
Love With Grace: Creativity
"The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering." ~ Ben Okri A Thought On Love... After Jan passed, I wrote a book on grieving. It is called, Grieve With Grace™: Beyond...
Zoom Conference ~ 2/1/23
"What patients seek is not scientific knowledge that doctors hide, but existential authenticity each person must find on her own... the angst of facing mortality has no remedy in probability." ~ Paul Kalanithi Yesterday's Session... Yesterday, we had a wonderful time...
Gratitude: Savoring Life
"I want to tell everybody to celebrate every day, to savor the day and be good to yourself, love yourself, and then you can be good to others and be of service to others." ~ Charlotte Rae Be Grateful ~ Savor Life... When we think of being grateful or thankful for what...
Movement Then Momentum
"The bigger goal of giving all parents more choices is one that will have to be discussed and undoubtedly roundly debated, but we are going to have to continue to build the case. The momentum is there on the state level in many states. That's where the energy needs to...
My First Rememberance
"A long time ago there was an enchanted princess who lived and loved and then loved even more... until one day when she was called home to heaven. She left our Earthly bounds but still shines her soul upon us even now. This beautiful woman was named Princess Janice...
Really, Me?
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." ~ C. S. Lewis The Journey From Despair to Grace... I like to think of...
I’m Not an Artist!
Creativity takes courage.~ Henri Matisse For many of us, we limit the concept of creativity to the arts: painting, drawing, writing, music, dance, and such. It’s true these activities require creativity. But there is another aspect of creativity: creative thought. ...
Resilience. Really?
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. ~ Jamais Cascio I like this thought: “Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. The goal of resilience is to...
Love With Grace: Creativity
"The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering." ~ Ben Okri A Thought On Love... After Jan passed, I wrote a book on grieving. It is called, Grieve With Grace™: Beyond...
Zoom Conference ~ 2/8/23
"I probably wouldn't do anything differently if I had to do it again. Every little thing that happens to you, good and bad, becomes a little piece of the puzzle of who you become. Every successful person you read about - Warren Buffett, Bill Gates — they all say...
Movement Then Momentum
"The bigger goal of giving all parents more choices is one that will have to be discussed and undoubtedly roundly debated, but we are going to have to continue to build the case. The momentum is there on the state level in many states. That's where the energy needs to...
My First Rememberance
"A long time ago there was an enchanted princess who lived and loved and then loved even more... until one day when she was called home to heaven. She left our Earthly bounds but still shines her soul upon us even now. This beautiful woman was named Princess Janice...
Our Future
Future Fears Vs. Our Current Loss…
When we lose someone very close to us, as I did Jan, the future seems murky and foreboding.
Bad things have happened to us.
We project that bad things will continue to happen to us.
And fear will control every decision we make and every action we take.
Until we accept our loss…
And accept responsibility for moving forward.
Why Creativity?
Spelling it out…
When we think of the Grace of God we think of God at the beginning of all Creation.
Genesis 1 establishes that the beginning of everything is Creation…
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And so it is with us also.
Especially in a time of mourning and grieving.
I have attached a small snippet of my Creativity Chapter for you to review. Open it now…
Was… Is… Will Be…
The 3 Giant Questions of Moving from Grieving to Living in Grace…
We are now done with the principal writing of Grieve With Grace™.
Now, the hard part of writing—accepting critical thinking, review, and most importantly, editing.
Yes, accepting the advice of others is key to creating a product that will perform as intended, in this case, help people move from grief to Grace.
This week as we were discussing direction and writing style, the idea of the word “Acceptance” came into focus.
Where grief ends in Acceptance—accepting the loss of someone close to you—a new life begins with Accepting responsibility for moving forward with your life.
No question, Acceptance is the endpoint of grief and the Starting Point for Grace.
Really, Me?
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." ~ C. S. Lewis The Journey From Despair to Grace... I like to think of...
The Power of Empathy
"The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy." ~ Meryl Streep What is empathy? Empathy is not just understanding what someone is going through. Nor is empathy simply pitying someone or feeling compassion toward them. It is the ability to put...
Death of a Child
“Just as it is impossible to explain childbirth to a woman who has never given birth, it is impossible to explain child loss to a person who has never lost a child.” ― Lynda Cheldelin Fell Loss... I've lost my grandparents. I've lost my father. But nothing could...
Zoom Conference ~ 2/15/23
"Grace, respect, reserve, and empathetic listening are qualities sorely missing from the public discourse now." ~ Meryl Streep Wednesday's Creative Session... We had a wonderful time explaining, in a lot of detail, what it means to Grieve With Grace™... and why the...
Movement Then Momentum
"The bigger goal of giving all parents more choices is one that will have to be discussed and undoubtedly roundly debated, but we are going to have to continue to build the case. The momentum is there on the state level in many states. That's where the energy needs to...
My First Rememberance
"A long time ago there was an enchanted princess who lived and loved and then loved even more... until one day when she was called home to heaven. She left our Earthly bounds but still shines her soul upon us even now. This beautiful woman was named Princess Janice...
Everyone Grieves Sometime…
Choose Life…
For many of us, the dark times define our life.
And darken our future.
It is important to remember that no one is happy all the time.
No one is sad all the time.
The highs and lows of our life define the rhythm of our beliefs, faith, and actions.
Grief-Stricken vs. Grace-Stricken
You Are Just…
Grief-stricken and everything will be ok…
Over time you will feel better and not hurt so much…
You just need to get over it and snapback…
If you have experienced a great loss you have heard these words. Maybe not exactly the same words but the same meaning and intent.
People, especially those close to you, have no idea what to say to help, so they express their feelings in odd ways. Usually with what they think you want to hear.
The Power of Empathy
If You Could Only See Inside of Me... We all have masks that shield us from emotional trauma. And in a time when we are consumed with bereavement and the loss of a loved one, we try to hide behind the mask of grief. People say they are sorry for our loss and offer...
A Word About Our Cover…
This book, especially the cover, saved my life.
You will see the traditional memorial candle with flame turning into the smoke that represents the spirit manifesting itself as a woman rising from death in the real world, to live in the spirit world.
I wrote this book to save me years in the prison of grief… and to help the world see there is a clear alternative: Grace.
Retrospective: Hospice is Caring Not Curing…
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ~ Leo Buscaglia Exactly 3 years ago today I had the conversation no...
Love: A 3 Year Retrospective
"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." ~ Aristotle As we move beyond the searing pain of a life cut short, we start to realize that GRACE matters. It was today, 3 years ago that Jan asked me a profound question, "Am I going to die?" Never once, in...
Give Thanks For Gratitude
"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." ~ Henry Van Dyke Gratitude Matters... It is the first letter/word in GRACE: Gratitude... Resilience......