Living with a Grieving Heart - by Marianne Bette (Paperback)

About the Book

"Grief can make you crazy. It can shut you down, but grief can also crack you open and change you like nothing else. You can become your best self. If you let it, it can be the transformation of your lifetime. Dr. Marianne Bette shares stories from her own personal experiences with grief as well as from forty years in family medicine, to help those who are grieving learn how to embrace life again while living with a grieving heart"--

Book Synopsis

Grief knocks you to your knees and you're left knowing your life will never be the same.

Losing someone you love is hard. But when the dust settles and the pain starts to fade, grief can surprise you in stark and subtle ways. A few bars of a tune, a faint hint of perfume, a brief glimpse of a stranger in a crowd can bring your loss crashing in.

But there are also lessons we can learn from grief. It's not all pain. It can also bring appreciation: for the love you had, for the people who support you, for the life you still have ahead of you.

And as you pick yourself up, made subtly stronger by grief, you find more clarity of purpose, more appreciation for others, and more desire to live your life fully.

You become a grief warrior.

That's what Dr. Marianne Bette calls herself. A grief warrior. She is no stranger to grief and the transformation it brings. Let her teach you how to embrace life again using her personal experiences with grief as well others' whose stories she shares from forty years in family medicine.

You can live with a grieving heart.

Review Quotes

Marianne Bette has suffered several very significant losses during her life. In her book, Living with a Grieving Heart, Marianne shares her experiences and insights regarding the painful grieving process. She writes about her own, often debilitating, reactions to loss in a very honest and candid manner, offering suggestions for working through these difficult times. Through her stories, the reader will come to realize that many of the emotions the bereaved experiences, including deep despair and cognitive changes, are natural and normal. While grieving is very difficult and painful, Marianne shows the bereaved that they can grow from the experience of loss, incorporating the loss into their future, and finding positive ways to put together a life that may be different, but meaningful.

- Carol Flament, MS, Death, Dying and Bereavement Educator and Bereavement Support Group Facilitator

As a doctor who treats chronic pain patients, I have had the rare opportunity to witness the transformation of suffering into joyful triumph-an evolution that eludes many. I deeply admire those who can convert adversity into a positive force. For those who are heartbroken and need help, Dr. Marianne Bette provides a prescription for transformation. In Living with a Grieving Heart, she allows us to glimpse her own grief as illustrated in a series of honest, powerful and sometimes raw anecdotes. She inspires us to embrace the complexities of grief and use the transformative power of anguish to deepen relationships and generate new enthusiasm for life. Marianne possesses a level of wisdom that could only have been earned by enduring incredible heartache. She inspires her readers with her extraordinary insight and gift of resilience. Marianne's message is clear. The Paradox of Life always hides blessings in our hardships.

- Jim Prado, DC, Chiropractic Physician

In her latest book, Marianne Bette again offers us important insights for living and an intimate portrait of pivotal moments in her life journey. The stories are offset by words of wisdom, encouragement and perspective in dealing with grief born of loss. Marianne's book deals with the loss of a loved one. What happens when that loved one is yourself? Many people who suffer a brain injury experience the grief of losing the life they knew and the future they anticipated. They and their families will find comfort and guidance in these pages as they forge ahead in their life journeys. Grief is universal; only the details vary.

- Kathleen M. Lord, MS, Speech-Language Pathologist