In this blog, we discuss the importance of grief rituals in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness we feel inside.
In order to grieve your trauma, you need to feel what didn’t feel safe to process at the time when your trauma occurred. Giving yourself the permission to acknowledge and sit with the grief, loss...
In this blog, we discuss the importance of grief rituals in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness we feel inside.
Traumatic grief is a term that describes when someone experiences both grief and trauma at the same time. Grief involves reacting to the loss of a loved one or a big life change, while trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event that often includes a threat to someone’s life or wellbeing.1,2
Disenfranchised grief is overwhelming. You don’t have to carry it all alone. Here’s more about this type of grief and how to cope with it.
When you hear the word grief, what comes up for you? For most of us, when we think of grief, we think about death. Our mind pairs the two together - if I'm grieving, someone must have died. While this can be the case, we may also experience grief within a wide range of other life experiences. I hear a lot of confusion about what grief is. The list below will help provide some context into other types of grief and loss that you (or someone you know) may experience (past, present or future). Under
In this blog, we discuss the importance of grief rituals in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness we feel inside.
If you have ever had a dream about a miscarriage, you may be wondering what it could mean. Dreams about pregnancy loss can be distressing and evoke a range of
(+ultimate grief recovery plan) Grief Comes In Waves: Discover the top 12 lessons no one talks about ... Losing someone we love can leave us feeling alone, empty, and hopeless.
Managing trauma through EMDR therapy.
For 10-15% of people, the experience of a loss is so painful that moving towards a stage of maintenance or being able to cope with the loss is seemingly impossible. This type of grief is known as Complicated Grief.
My brain has been playing weird tricks on me lately. Tonight as the usual highlight (and lowlight) reel of everything that transpired ran through my head, it almost felt like I was watching a movie. "Lifetime Movies presents: the tragic story of the girl who lost her boyfriend to heroin when she had no idea he was using." As the flashbacks continued, I experienced the usual feelings of horror, shock, and sadness. But strangely, it was like I was feeling these feelings out of sympathy for someone else. How awful for that girl. What a tragic experience for her to go through. Thank God that's not me. Not my life. As the story continued to play out in my mind, I tried to get myself to connect to it. I couldn't. These were my memories, my life, my trauma, why did I feel so detached from it all? Was this all just a dream? Was Blake just that handsome older guy I barely knew from high school? Did everything between us even happen? It's terrifying how my mind seemed to be distorting my reality. Why? I've read all about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I initially thought that the way they are listed is the usual order they occur. Based on that assumption, I thought that I must have skipped the "denial" stage. From the horrific moment the office manager pulled me out from lunch so my best friend could deliver the news about Blake's death, I knew he was gone and never coming back. I felt a million different things, but I never refused to admit to myself that the overdose happened. But I'm beginning to realize that denial comes in all different forms at unexpected times. This "trick" my brain has started playing on me, I think, is actually a form of denial. The underlying motivation of denial is that maybe if I don't acknowledge this is my pain, I can pretend I'm ok. My brain seemed to be trying to protect me through disassociation. Being the obsessive investigator that I've always been, I started researching online again about the stages of grief and loss. Is what I'm going through normal? What I found out was that this 5 stages of grief model is actually seen as outdated and not true for most people. Grief is typically a back-and-fourth between the five listed stages as well as several other phases. This diagram makes so much more sense to me. I appreciate how it acknowledges that grief isn't chronologically linear. There are more than just five stages and they can occur concurrently or in no particular order. The beginning spiral section recognizes that at any point, these feelings can be revisited (and sometimes again and again). It's not like I went through the anger stage and got to wipe my hands of it afterward: "Ok, I was mad at Blake for a day for lying to me and doing drugs, but now I've accepted it. Anger: check!" Just because I had an angry moment and it passed doesn't mean I won't re-experience that anger later. The same thing goes for depression and now denial too. Like I've come to realize in the past couple weeks, everything is coming in waves. There are times when my heart is filled with hope, days that my body gives up, minutes that feel like hours of panic, bouts of anger, quiet thoughts of guilt, moments of peace etc. etc. etc. There is no finish line with a banner that reads "Acceptance! You've made it!" Grieving is a process, and one that it's not neatly confined into five orderly steps.
Grief journaling prompts is a great way to process any loss you may be facing. Processing a life event is an individual process. The goal of processing is to gain understanding, integration of the loss into your life and acceptance. Using journaling prompts can help promote healing, growth and resilience. We all face loss in…
In this blog, we discuss the importance of grief rituals in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness we feel inside.
In this blog, we discuss the importance of grief rituals in a world that teaches us to shut down and ignore the sadness we feel inside.
One of the most powerful lessons yoga teaches us is the art of surrender—the art of letting go. Using yoga to practice surrendering—whether it be to physical sensations or psychological challenges—can manifest powerfully beyond our mats. Knowing how to let go into the present moment can imbue our lives with
If you have ever had a dream about a miscarriage, you may be wondering what it could mean. Dreams about pregnancy loss can be distressing and evoke a range of
Try out one of these activities to help yourself or a loved one get through feelings of grief and loss.
Read the Ultimate Survival Guide for coping with a devastating loss. Learn about the 5 Stages of Grief and how long grief lasts. Watch grief expert interviews.
It is no surprise that we find nature in grief and metaphors surrounding nature are consistent and common themes on Grief in Six Words. We've compiled
According to a Korean proverb, when someone close to you dies, you bury them in your heart. What the proverb doesn’t tell you is the effect that grief will have on you. So what is grief exactly? In simplest terms, it’s a reaction to loss...
Reflecting on quotes from other authors may help if you have lost a loved one. In this article, we share our favorite quotes about overcoming grief. “Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You …
There are so many types of grief that are impacting people right now. Sorting through them can help make what you're feeling make a little more sense.
This article in a series of posts on the topic of grief and loss will explores the definition, causes and symptoms of grief caused by an experience of loss.
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An ambiguous loss occurs when there is a lack of closure or clear understanding about a relationship or connection that was significant to you.
Read the Ultimate Survival Guide for coping with a devastating loss. Learn about the 5 Stages of Grief and how long grief lasts. Watch grief expert interviews.
(+Free Grief Worksheets) ACT For Grief and Loss: 6 ACT Tools Tool 1. Values Tool 2. Committed Action Tool 3. Acceptance Tool 4. Being Present Tool 5. Cognitive Defusion Tool 6. “The Observing Self” Pro Tip: Write a Letter about Your Loss
What is traumatic grief, and how is it different from other kinds of grief? Learn more here about how trauma affects the grieving process.
If you have ever had a dream about a miscarriage, you may be wondering what it could mean. Dreams about pregnancy loss can be distressing and evoke a range of
In the most basic sense of the word, trauma is defined as a deeply distressing experience. The psychological impact of infertility can include not only anxiety and depression, but loss, grief, isolation, difficulty concentrating and loss of self. Each individual’s fertility journey is unique. Theref
