An award winning author, speaker and near-death survivor shared her personal story and provided insight, compassion and understanding to about 75 people who attended a grief seminar held last Saturday at the Rimbey Drop-In.
Keynote speaker, Lorri Brewer shared her heartfelt story and inspirational message at the seminar, ‘Understanding Loss and Grief Recovery’ sponsored by Rimbey & District Victim Services.
Patricia Jones, Victim Services Co-ordinator for Rimbey said Brewer’s talk was very well received.
“It was validating to see that many people came. It was definitely something needed in the community. There are a lot of people grieving.”
Jones said people seem to feel lighter when they left the seminar as though they had been able to shed some of their emotional pain.
Brewer, who lives in Edmonton, is the author of a book entitled Heaven Time. In her book she shares the story of how she experienced a near death experience, and the incredible journey she has since been on.
Prior to her experience, she worked in real estate, putting in long hours and struggling to get ahead financially.
However, the experience, brought on by a heart condition, left her a changed person.
At one point in her life she gave away many of her material possessions. She also began journaling.
She later made her journals into the book, Heaven Time.
Her success as a keynote speaker stemmed from training through Toastmasters which helped her create a series of motivational talks.
She said the seminar in Rimbey was to talk about life and provide hope and light for people who are grieving.
“I wasn’t there to talk about death. My passion is to put some light out there.
On her blog, Brewer talks about how people who are grieving often want to know why bad things happen to good people.
“The best answer I can give is things happen, mistakes are made, people error, unfortunate circumstance, bad timing, wrong place-wrong time, lapse in judgment, under-estimate the situation, unlucky decision.”
Brewer said the real question should not be why do bad things happen to good people, but how to get through the situation.
“Understanding why things happen is a very important part of healing because if we don’t satisfy that pain it will lead to lingering anger and frustration and make it difficult to move forward.”
However, she noted understanding how to get through a situation is a step in recovery.
“(Asking) why is living in the past, but understanding how is a step looking forward into the future.”
She said grief recovery is a long journey that requires patience, love and time.
She suggested finding a good support group, counselor, or participating in therapy or finding an interesting hobby as ways to make the process easier.
Brewer’s story has been aired on Transformation Talk Radio with Dr. Pat, the International association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), and the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF).
The author and speaker is working on her second book which is scheduled to be released Dec. 1, 2015.