Spirtuality | Sheila Collins

In Honor of

by Sheila Collins | Jan 20, 2022 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Duality, Family, Good Will Come, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Spirtuality, Story-telling, The Art of Grieving

This Saturday, January 22nd will be the first anniversary of my sister Pat’s birth since her death last fall at 78 in a memory care facility. As part of my own Art of Grieving practices I try to remember and honor a deceased loved one in some special way on their...

Awareness of Death and its Gift to Our Lives

by Sheila Collins | Nov 11, 2021 | Duality, Family, Grieving, Health, Health and Wellness, Personal Stories, Rituals, Spirtuality, The Art of Grieving

The short story writer and playwright William Soroyan died of cancer in a Veterans’ Hospital at the age of 72. His 1981 obituary in the Washington Post contained a quote from an interview he gave the Associated Press shortly after the onset of his final illness....

Gifts That Keep On Giving

by Sheila Collins | Jun 24, 2021 | Art & Life, Community, Duality, Family, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Our Children, Personal Stories, Resilience, Self-Care for Caregivers, Spirtuality, Story-telling, The Art of Grieving

Last week, on the first day of summer known as the summer solstice, thoughts and memories of my youngest son, Kenneth were close at hand. Friends and family members know this day as the anniversary of Kenneth’s death from complications of AIDS at age 31. They send...

Crossing Over

by Sheila Collins | May 27, 2021 | Celebrations, Duality, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Our Children, Personal Stories, Rituals, Self-Care for Caregivers, Songs, Spirtuality, Story-telling, The Art of Grieving

Michael rowed the boat ashore, Alleluia, Sister helped to trim the sails Alleluia. Our living room has turned into the dying room. Friends linger after stopping by to bring flowers or drop off food. One tells me, “There’s so much love in this house. it’s hard to...

A Garden Remembers

by Sheila Collins | Jul 24, 2020 | Art & Life, Environment, Family, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Meditations, Personal Stories, Resilience, Self-Care, Self-Care for Caregivers, Spirtuality, Stillpoint, The Art of Grieving

I was having one of those down days. My sister is in a memory care center in the Boston area, so of course I hadn’t been able to see or talk to her for several months. I’d gotten an email about a meeting the staff was having for family members, but the notice came so...

Revisiting The Power of Anniversaries

by Sheila Collins | Oct 30, 2019 | Art & Life, Good Will Come, Grieving, Institutional Loss, Past Events, Personal Stories, Resilience, Rituals, Self-Care for Caregivers, social justice, Spirtuality, The Art of Grieving

When I awoke last Sunday morning I knew it was the day – the one year anniversary of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in my hometown of Pittsburgh PA. Eleven people lost their lives and several others were seriously injured in the worst...