A Guide to Grief

No matter how much emotional intelligence you may subscribe to yourself, or how many times you may or may not have experienced loss, grief is not something any of us can "handle" or "manage", even if we're just consoling a loved one on their loss. No one can tell you what your or your friend's grief will feel like, or what the grieving process will entail or how long it will be, or what the right thing is that can fix you or help you move on. What is universally true is that loss unleashes powerful emotions and feelings that are far outside our normal range of functioning. They will manifest themselves differently in each of us, and we'll all have different paths to take to get through our loss, but the enormity and otherness of the emotion remains the same. Whether you shut down completely, or you flounder in a sea of emotion where a river once ran, grief is uncharted territory for us all. We're not given a map or a 'get out of jail free' pass that takes us right to the finish line, but we can bring a guidebook along for the ride. If nothing else, it makes the journey less scary - or maybe it just gives us a place to start... http://www.squidoo.com/coping/ http://www.squidoo.com/groups/grief-and-loss-club (Note: apart from a-guide-to-grief lenses, you'll also find many tribute lenses dedicated to people lensmasters have lost. Squidoo also features specialist lenses devoted to a variety of sub-topics including helping children cope, and dealing with the loss of a pet. I encourage you to use these lenses as a starting point, and further explore the resources listed within them such as recommended books and videos, and suggestions for types of centres/helplines worth talking to.)

Kidney Disease Support Groups on Squidoo

I'm having a blast at my internship, since I get to look through dozens of cool lenses everyday. I like typing in different keywords, from "anime" to "Harry Potter", and get amazed at how much expertise is out there for the benefiting from. Today, however, I was looking for something different. My grandfather is in the hospital, and we were celebrating the fact that notwithstanding renal failure, he's been going strong on home dialysis (CAPD) for almost 10 years. With that on my mind, my Squidoo browsing was a little different, and once again, I was proud of just how much of a resource, and a lifeline, the internet and Squidoo can be... Joshua Felix: http://www.squidoo.com/joshua_felix_seitler/ and http://www.squidoo.com/alport_syndrome/. Joshua Felix is a baby boy who's a carrier for Alport Syndrome (a hereditary kidney disease). His dad, Travis, is using Squidoo to track both his son's life (with the cutest baby pictures!) and Alport Syndrome so he can "keep track of everything I can find out about the disease" and hopefully you can too. Travis' lenses are also part of the Kidney Dialysis Support Group, a group "for patients on kidney dialysis who need support and want to give support. For family and friends of kidney dialysis patients who need support and would like to give support to others as well."

The group is still fledgling, but already contains extremlely useful lenses like this one, which is very informative and links to a wide variety of resources for kidney patients. Going a little bit beyond dialysis, searching for "kidney disease" on Squidoo brings back 95 lenses.

I hope to see even more informative lenses on this topic, which is a very niche one, I know. But that's the beauty of Squidoo - depending on your intention, you can reach millions of people or you can reach just 5 people - 5 people for whom your lens is a blessing, not just a diversion.