Wednesday, September 21, 2016

This Is Us - challenge

My wife and I watched the first episode of the new show on NBC called "This Is Us" on demand today.  The show seems very good from the pilot, and I was especially touched by a particular scene when a Dr tells a young man that his wife delivered two healthy children, however, the third was stillborn.  The scene is on youtube.



The Grief Recovery Institute defines grief as "the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior."  This character has just lost a child, but gained two others. Talk about conflicting emotions!  Joy and grief mingling in the heart.  A heart that is swelling with pride, yet completely broken.  But this isn't the reason I'm writing today.

The good doctor sits down and tells his own personal grief story, not to wallow in sorrow with the young man, but to help him seek some good from an awful situation.  I was so touched by the way this was presented.  I'll let you see what happened in the show.

Challenge - (v) to summon to a contest of skill, strength, special effort, etc.; invite; arouse; stimulate. (adapted from Dictionary.com).  Challenges can also represent an awakening to a person.  A chance to open your broken-hearted eyes to new possibilities.  To expose your own suffering to let others know it's okay and that grief is normal.  To come alongside a person in deep pain and be broken with them. A challenge helped me, and I have written about it before in earlier blogs.

Can challenges like this really help in grief recovery?  Is this just TV drama or does it work?  Is it therapeutic for me to work with grievers?  I would like to hear your story.


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