Thank You for Joining Us at WEE 2022 Scottsdale!
Now Get Ready for WEE 2023 St. Louis!
On September 22–24, 2023, we invite you to join your Wisters in St. Louis, Missouri for another remarkable, life-changing event for widows and daughters of widows.
In widowhood, being able to quickly connect with community and resources is vital in setting women on a pivotal, purposeful road to holistic health. This is why WEE is such a necessary part of the grief-to-growth process, providing a safe and encouraging space with others who understand this journey.
At WEE 2023 St. Louis you’ll find HOPE as you spend time with an understanding community and powerful speakers. You’ll have opportunities to HEAL through education, resources, and activities that also give you the chance to GROW. And you’ll learn about how to LEAD a healthy, purposeful life in widowhood.
Click below to learn more about WEE 2023 St. Louis or to register!
Register for WEE 2023 St. Louis
HOPE, HEAL, GROW E-Course Bundle
Our comprehensive HOPE, HEAL, and GROW e-course bundle is for widows committed to a path of forward momentum, holistic health, and expansive growth. Learn to embrace your own strength and courage — and move from simply surviving to thriving.
Our HOPE interactive course leads you towards a feeling of more hope in your widowed journey.
Our HEAL interactive course leads you towards an understanding of the many avenues available to find healing in your widowed journey.
Our GROW interactive course leads you towards recognizing the areas of your life where you have grown, and focusing on areas where you wish to further grow in your widowed journey.
Our bundle includes a total of 109 lessons — 28 in HOPE, 38 in HEAL, and 43 in GROW — to guide you in taking the next steps in widowhood. These are self-paced courses, so you can work through as many or as few lessons as you want in a day, week, or month.
Click below to learn more or to purchase your e-course bundle.
PIVOT Mentoring Program: Six Months of Hope, Healing, Support, and Growth
Registration is now open for PIVOT January through June 2023. In this 6-month virtual mentoring program hosted by MWC Founder Carolyn Moor, you’ll find support, inspiration, and guidance on becoming a strong and constant axis in your own life as you pivot and grow in widowhood.
Join Carolyn and six guest experts who will show you how to meet your new life with honesty, flexibility, resilience, and real resources based on widow research. A focus on our 7 Pillars of Healthy Widowhood ensures that your hope, heal, grow, and lead process is supported in many ways.
This is Carolyn’s only 1:1 mentoring program with Modern Widows Club, and space is limited to 15 attendees.
Click below to learn details about this powerful program and read reviews from former PIVOTers.
WELLNESS WINDOW
10 Superfoods for Women
By Tara Gidus Collingwood, MS, RDN, CSSD, ACSM-CPT
As we age, our bodies go through some major physiological changes. Women are susceptible to bone loss, muscle loss, hormonal changes, and the dreaded middle-age spread. We see and feel these changes in our achy joints, vision impairments, heart complications, weight gain, decreased memory retention, and lack of energy — all of which can be tied directly to nutrition. And guess what can accelerate all of this? Stress! And since losing one’s spouse is classified as the most stressful life event, I’m willing to bet you’ve had some stress.
What exactly is a “superfood?” The word superfood is really a marketing term, not a scientifically-backed term. Superfoods are generally very high in nutritional value but don’t have a lot of calories.
These 10 superfoods boast a high nutrient-to-calorie ratio to keep your body performing optimally:
1. Salmon or tuna. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish two times a week, particularly fatty fish like salmon or tuna. Why? Fatty fish are higher in omega-3 fatty acids, which fight inflammation and remove triglycerides from the blood. Better yet, fish is a complete protein, meaning it contains all of the essential amino acids. Protein is what our bodies use for growth, maintenance, and repair. You may stop growing taller in your teens, but these three processes continue in your cells for the rest of your life.
2. Chia. Yes, they are the same seeds used to make those Chia pets planters! But don’t eat the seeds that come with the planter — they are not approved for human consumption. Go to a grocery store to get them! These tiny black seeds are one of the healthiest foods around. Of particular interest are chia’s concentrations of fiber and healthy fat. One ounce contains 11 grams of fiber and 5 grams of omega-3 fatty acids. Fiber and omega-3s work together to keep your heart healthy, a benefit we could all use more of. After all, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States for both women and men. If you’re not up for chia, go for ground flax seeds for the same benefits.
3. Black beans. Black beans are an excellent source of soluble fiber, the type of fiber that is difficult to come by. Soluble fiber is a nutrient key to blood sugar regulation and cardiovascular health. It works to slow the rate at which food moves through the digestive tract, meaning you don’t experience blood sugar highs and low as easily. It also helps to pull cholesterol from the blood, lowering your LDL cholesterol level and reducing your risk of coronary heart disease. All beans are good if you prefer kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, cannellini beans, and more.
Click below to continue reading Tara's article.
Tara Gidus Collingwood is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Personal Trainer, and fellow Wister. You can find her at dietdiva.net.
On October 25, you're invited to an interactive Zoom-based Coach-a-Thon with Modern Widows Club Founder Carolyn Moor.
Come experience this meaningful and supportive evening of open Q&A with plenty of wisdom shared about the journey of widowhood, and an opportunity for a 1:1 conversation with Carolyn.
Please bring your question for Carolyn, which you can ask publicly or privately. All widows are welcome.
To attend, you must register in advance — just click the button below. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email with details about joining the session.
This session will not be recorded, so don’t forget to sign up and attend. We look forward to seeing you there.
Three Healing Benefits I Found Using Art to Travel with Grief
By Dr. Linda Shanti McCabe
1. If you get the bad feelings out, the good feelings can come in.
This is what they used to say at my son’s preschool. Obviously, as a psychologist, I am going to say there are no bad feelings. But let’s be real: grief has a lot of bad feelings: anger, sadness, despair, numbness, loneliness, to name a few. If you don’t get those feelings out, they can destroy you inside. Depression is anger turned inward. And when regret, anger, and sadness are left to fester, they turn to bitter resentment. As one of my colleagues in substance abuse recovery used to say “Better out than in.” Art provides that out. The blank paper, canvas, journal provides a non-judgment space in which you can rage, despair, and get the bad feelings out — without hurting yourself or anyone else.
In the early grief after my husband died, I experienced so much anger. It was hard to know what to do with it. I wanted to cut it off, bypass it, or have it not be there. But it was there. And it didn’t go away. Art provided a safe place for me to rage on paper. I ripped up journals, letters I had written to God, and letters to family members with whom I felt angry. (If you need to write an angry letter, best to write it on real paper, NOT email, and don’t send it. Just get the bad feelings out. You can always write a more eloquent letter later…once you have gotten the anger out.) I piled these letters into a heap of paper. Then I painted brown over them, literally making them into a compost heap. I painted a tiny sprout emerging. I needed to know something would grow from the anger. I needed to know I could get it out and it wasn’t bad; I wasn’t bad. (Like many women, I was socialized from a young age to learn the false belief that “good girls don’t get angry.”) I wasn’t “an angry person.” I was grieving. I was a human being experiencing grief. Anger is a normal part of grief.
2. Art provides a place when words aren’t enough.
People are often at a loss for what to say to a grieving person. And grieving people are often in such a state of lostness in grief, they can’t identify what they need when asked by loved ones “What can I do to support you?” This is partly because we don’t live in a death- and grief-literate culture. We live in a culture that compartmentalizes death and grief as something to avoid at all costs. We live in a culture that encourages trying to be (or look) young/happy/thin (as far away from the discomfort of mortality) for as long as possible. Grief—especially grief that is disenfranchised or not seen—is a Grand Canyon of vastness that can be hard to even find words to describe.
Art provides a place that can hold that vastness. Art, like nature, holds space for many seemingly conflicting emotions and perspectives all at the same time. Art can hold not only the chasms of anger, regret, and despair, but also the broken open beauty, awe, and deep connection with life and love that grief invites. Grief is often described as love that has lost its landing place.
Click below to continue reading Dr. McCabe's article.
Linda Shanti McCabe is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified grief counselor, and author of “After Your Person Dies: Affirmations for traveling with grief, making meaning, and going on.” Follow her on Instagram at @griefandart.
MWC TRAVEL CLUB
The MWC Travel Club for widows is a great place to learn about solo traveling, or to connect with other widows who are interested in traveling too.
We’re currently planning a trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica in February 2023 — and you’re invited!
We’ll be vacationing at an all-inclusive adults-only resort with concierge service, round-the-clock room service, infinity pools, and an endless array of sports, activities, and entertainment to make your Jamaica vacation unforgettable.
Join us to learn more about this trip or other Travel Club excursions that are being planned.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
Being Selfless Begins With Self-Care
By Paula Meyer
To serve others and yourself in harmony, you must give from an overflowing well of energy and love. Our bodies are tuning forks to the subconscious. If we listen, we will hear what we need to focus on and receive insights into our past and present. Pain in the body indicates a need to look at that area and explore what thoughts and beliefs contribute to that pain. Ignoring these cues allows them to seat deeper within our bodies, which leads to illness. Becoming aware of underlying issues allows us to take action. Unfortunately, many times, I’ve had the awareness but didn’t follow through. One of the best books that helped me determine how my thoughts and beliefs affect my body is Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life.
I used to make time for self-care with daily meditation and occasional physical activity. My husband, Gary, always made sure we maintained a wholesome diet. In 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. In the first few years, his health seemed to improve, so our routines remained constant. I continued my busy work schedule, and despite his salivary glands and taste buds being severely diminished, Gary could still travel. We were optimistic.
In early 2017, Gary started to have problems swallowing. He choked on food, labored hard to breathe, and lost considerable weight. It was a scary time. When he reluctantly agreed to get a feeding tube, we learned that the tumor had grown and was pressing against his trachea and esophagus. Because of this development, Gary would have to have a tracheostomy to ensure a clear airway when the feeding tube was inserted.
Being a caregiver is hard. Being a caregiver for someone you love is extremely hard. Being a caregiver for someone you love and working a demanding, full-time job is brutal on your body and mind. I wish I had understood the toll this would take on me. Having been on the self-development train since 1997, I should have been more prepared.
What I was missing during Gary’s illness was the importance of love and compassion for myself. Every waking moment involved caring for him or tending to work. I believed that being selfless in this way, I would be fine. Surely, all the good I did for others would carry over into my health and wellness. This was severe denial. Keeping my mind crazy busy sheltered me from thinking about the inevitable. I dismissed my intuition and ignored the signals my body sent to show how physically, mentally, and emotionally depleted I was becoming. When those in my inner circle asked, I always assured them I was fine.
Click below to continue reading Paula's article.
Paula Meyer, widowed at age 54, is the author of "Great Loss, Greater Love: The Art & Heart of Navigating Grief." She aspires to help other women get back in the game of life and realize there is still so much to learn and love. Learn more at greatlossgreaterlove.com.
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