Grief

GRIEF is the normal and natural reaction to loss of any kind.  Grief is not depression…it is painful.  GRIEF WORK means that you have to mourn what you have lost before you go forward.  Grieving people want and need to be heard and not fixed.   In our society, we are often told that “time heals all wounds”.  Time itself does not heal but it is what you “do” within time that will complete the pain caused by loss.  RECOVERY means claiming your circumstances instead of your circumstances claiming you and your happiness.  

Many of us have been socialized from an early age to deal with sad, painful, and negative emotions incorrectly.  This causes us to store the energy inside ourselves.  We often try to relieve this energy with:

 • Food

• Alcohol/drugs

• Anger

• Exercise

• Fantasy

• Isolation

• Sex

• Shopping

• Workaholism

There is a difference between “grief” and “mourning”.  Grief is our internal thoughts and feelings we have from our loss or losses.  “MOURNING”, in contrast, is when you take the grief that you have inside and express it outside of yourself.  It is through active mourning of what you have lost that you eventually discover new life.  

SETTING THE INTENTION TO HEAL:  Setting the intention to heal is a way of actively guiding your grief.  By honoring the presence of your pain, by understanding the appropriateness of your pain, you are committing to facing your pain in ways that allow you to integrate, heal and transcend.  Living fully means being completely one with what you are experiencing and not holding it at arms-length.

 A WOUND THAT GOES UNACKNOWLEDGED AND UNWEPT IS A WOUND THAT CANNOT HEAL (JOHN ELDREDGE).

Here at Well Mind Body, we understand that grief can feel all consuming. We also want you to know that we are here to support you in your grief journey.

Thank you for being here.