the Big Body | Sheila Collins

Finding Something to Do

by Sheila Collins | Jun 2, 2022 | Art & Life, Community, Environment, Gatherings, Grieving, Institutional Loss, Our Children, School Shootings, social justice, The Art of Grieving, the Big Body

We’re at the grocery store, we’re on our way to pick the kids up at school, we’re at the doctor’s office waiting for an appointment– and because we carry a device that keeps us up-to-the-minute on whatever is happening anywhere in the country, we get the news. “Not...

Grief by the Numbers

by Sheila Collins | May 26, 2022 | Community, Environment, Family, Grieving, History, Past Events, Personal Stories, The Art of Grieving, the Big Body

Visiting family in our nation’s capital over the weekend, we took some time to visit the Vietnam Memorial. We walked the concrete path alongside the black granite wall that honors the United States men and women who served in that 20-year war and lost their...

Grief and the Great Resignation

by Sheila Collins | Apr 7, 2022 | Community, Duality, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Institutional Loss, Personal Stories, The Art of Grieving, the Big Body

This morning at the hospital, as I was being prepped for my second cataract surgery the nurse asked me, “Are you getting your surgeries in before your doctor retires? When I nodded yes, she said, “We’re sure gonna miss her around here.” Several months ago, when my...

When Grief is Normal and when it’s Not

by Sheila Collins | Mar 31, 2022 | Grieving, Health, Health and Wellness, Past Events, Personal Stories, Self-Care, The Art of Grieving, the Big Body

Grief’s normal, right? It’s a natural response to losing someone or something that we love. Yet these days, we often question ourselves and one another. Are we doing it right? “I still haven’t cried,” or “I can’t seem to get through a day without crying.” “My brother...

War and Peace

by Sheila Collins | Mar 3, 2022 | Art & Life, Christianity, Community, Environment, Gatherings, Grieving, History, Rituals, Science, Technology and the Environment, Technology, the Big Body

On the road for six hours, I’d finally come to rest on a feather soft bed in a fancy New York hotel room a half a mile above the city streets. A hotel porter brings something my husband asked for and smiles when he sees me resting there. He looks out the broad windows...

We and Our Shadows

by Sheila Collins | Jan 6, 2022 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Community, Dances, Duality, Family, Grieving, History, Personal Stories, Resilience, Science, Technology and the Environment, The Art of Grieving, the Big Body, Uncategorized

Today I am visiting what I wrote last year. I was curious to see where we are now in comparison to when the calendar turned from 2020 to 2021. Cleaning my workspace the other morning a line from a song kept playing on a loop in my inner ear, “Me and my shadow, all...