Grief expert David Kessler recalls speaking with Mother Teresa, who told him Americans shouldn't fear dying because death is "falling into the arms of God." He discusses how her death alongside Princess Diana's affected public mourning and shares strategies for processing grief.
Today we talk to a man who is not only an expert on the grieving process, but also someone who has talked to Mother Teresa about death and dying and how people should cope with such a loss.
And the one thing she said to me is to please tell Americans not to be afraid of the dying.
David Kessler met Mother Teresa late last year. The author of Rights of the Dying says, mother Teresa did not feel fear.
Death, that death is like a falling into the arms of God, like going home to God. So I was so touched by how comfortable she was with the possibility of her own death.
Although she may have been comfortable with her own death, that does not make it easier to cope with for those who admired her, many of whom are still grieving over the death of another woman they admired Princess Diana.
I think we may find with both these women dying so close to the same time that we may be left with a lot of feelings of sadness and depression for a long.
Time, kessler says. It's important to find ways to.
Externalize.
Your feelings, to let them out.
Talk to friends about it, write a condolence letter, bring flowers to a place you feel would honor the person who has died.
