As Jamie Anderson says, “Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”

Grief comes in many forms beyond death, including change, loss, and unmet hopes, and can either harden us or become a quiet teacher when met with compassion.

• When denied, grief makes us numb not only to pain but to our own aliveness
• Grief requires reclaiming the part of ourselves that was attached to what was lost
• Grieving is uniquely individual - there's no "right way" or timeline
• The "pain button" analogy: grief doesn't shrink, but our lives grow bigger around it
• Relationships change during grief - some people withdraw while others try to help in ways that don't match what we need
• To heal: feel your grief, name what was lost, meet yourself with compassion, express your emotions
• Finding meaning and integrating loss means carrying what we've lost with grace
• Healing doesn't mean forgetting - it means allowing love to change form

Resources

Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss by Pat Schwiebert

The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos R.N.

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