Coping With Grief
Coping with grief is necessary in order to move through it. Grief is the very natural response to loss. Many feel often that something major is wrong if they feel any grief. However a large part of the experience of being human is loss. Many don’t know this but there is much to be learned from the benefits of this experience. It is important to learn how to not resist the grief you feel. Grief runs along the same spectrum as joy. If you want to feel the vastness of joy you must be able to feel the opposite in grief.
Coping With Grief
Feeling It
Coping with grief and learning to deal with grief starts with allowing yourself to feel it. We all to often block or try to deny the feelings that are not pleasant. This only calls the pain in that much more. Relax first and do not tense up.
Coping with grief can feel very intense.Your whole body the mind, your emotions and your spirit are thrown into an alternate reality. You have such overwhelming feelings of deep sorrow, it seems to hold you down and make you feel like you can never get up. Grief however can also be very subtle. It can be a gentler feeling of loss. It can be very personal or collective. People all feel it and it is different for everyone.
Coping with Grief
The Five Stages
Coping with grief involves what is known as the five stages. These are very common to most when they find themselves in the grieving process. Remember that it is normal to feel this way. Below are examples of these stages of grief and how one might sound at each stage.
- Denial: “This certainly cannot be happening now to me”.
- Anger: “Why in the world is this happening? Who is it I need to blame?”
- Bargaining: “If you (God) will make this go away, in return then I promise to ______”.
- Depression: “I’m too down, sad and upset to do things. I just want to be left alone.”
- Acceptance: “I’m finally at peace with the grief and incident.”
Coping with Grief
Seeking Counseling to Help
Grief has the capability to rob you of the ability to function in your day to day life. When this happens you should seek out help with a professional mental health counselor. Understanding my approach will help you to understand how I work directly with my clients. Counseling for Grief can help you in the following ways:
- Helps you to focus on the specific areas of your life where you find it most difficult to function and move on.
- Counseling helps you to identify helpful strategies and new behaviors that will help you cope and engage back in life.
- Therapy will help you to step into acceptance and practice mindfulness and staying in the present moment.
- Assist you in working through the grieving process by allowing you a safe place to do the work that is necessary. There is no time limit or judgement.
If you feel you need extra support then please do not hesitate to pick up the phone today and call. I would love the opportunity to speak with you and to take this journey with you to healing and freedom from the grips of grief.
Helpful Resources
Resources for grief
Your resource for dealing with grief
