tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-199066412011-10-15T16:32:30.782-07:00Lotte Steinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16292245728277594933noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19906641.post-1136768233339285942006-01-08T16:57:00.000-08:002006-11-05T07:27:50.206-08:00<div class="audblog"><a href="http://www.audioblogger.com/media/97394/292701.mp3" class="audLink"><img src="http://www.audioblogger.com/media/images/audioblogger.gif" class="audImg"border="0" alt="this is an audio post - click to play" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/19906641-113676823333928594?l=widowhood.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Lotte Steinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16292245728277594933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19906641.post-1134688996218573322006-01-06T15:18:00.000-08:002006-01-08T16:39:38.900-08:00WIDOWHOOD:<br />From Grieving to Healing<br />by<br />Lotte H. Stein<br /><br />A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the<br />California Institute of Integral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the<br />Requirements for the Degree of<br />Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities<br />With a concentration in East-West Psychology<br /><br /><b>ABSTRACT</b><br /><br />This dissertation is a theoretical study of widowhood for older women. It is suggested that widowhood can offer a woman the opportunity for self-discovery and transformation. The “golden years” are not only a time for play, for travel, a time free from the obligations we had during our working years, but also offer us a time for introspection, a time to withdraw and to come to terms with our humanity. The loss of a husband triggers the memory of prior losses, and the sadness that lies heavily upon the widow must be respected.<br /><br />In our society, the widow is encouraged to grieve for her husband and to experience her feelings; however, she is to do so in a nice and clean way. Our society frowns upon overt expression of emotions. Early on in childhood, we learn to be brave and strong and bear our pain alone. We expose only a happy face to the world and hide our sadness. This dissertation will show that we are likely to hide old wounds and repress feelings that need release if we are to be the authentic individuals we are meant to be by nature. Instead of <i>treating</i> our wounds it is important to <i>retreat</i> into them, so that we can listen to the suffering of our souls and pay attention to the needs of our spirits.<br /><br />Old age can be a special gift of time for the widow to discover potential she never thought she had. Widowhood need not only be a negative time; it can also be a positive, exciting and interesting experience for the older woman as she embarks upon a journey of self-discovery and transformation.<br /><br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://will-harris.com/stein/widowhood-lotte-stein-dissertation.html">Read the dissertation in HTML format</a></li></ul><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://will-harris.com/stein/widowhood-lotte-stein-dissertation.pdf">Read the dissertation in Acrobat PDF format</a></li></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/19906641-113468899621857332?l=widowhood.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Lotte Steinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16292245728277594933noreply@blogger.com1