Free Grief Articles

Is it possible to mourn the loss of a beloved spouse and, while still grieving, to not only meet someone special, but fall in love and begin to build a new relationship that includes a commitment to sharing your lives? Can we overlap our loving and our grieving? The answer is a profound: YES! But, to smooth the path, keep these helpful Do’s and Don’ts in mind.

If you mourn according to myth it means you have adopted false beliefs about grief and how to cope with the loss of a loved one. The solution is clear: obtain information to form beliefs that are true for you and discard old beliefs that were handed down to you when you were young. There are many myths about grief. Here are five of the most common and what you can do to reverse your thinking and reduce the unnecessary suffering they often inflict.

Many people are taught to keep their grief to themselves. Silent grief tends to perpetuate many myths and falsehoods that already exist. Here are 10 things you should know about grief that will cut through some of the cultural misrepresentations that often cause unnecessary suffering.

Unknown to the general public as well as the mass media, millions of people mourning the death of a loved one have an experience in which they are convinced they have received a sign or a message from the deceased or a divine being. However, mourners are often reluctant to widely discuss the event out of fear they will be labeled negatively and lose valuable support in their journey to reinvest in life. This article suggests its importance and how the experience can be used.

What are secondary losses? Essentially, they are a host of additional losses that are a consequence of your major loss, the death of your loved one. They include but are not limited to things like a loss of old routines, old friends, your home, the loss of meaning, and/or the loss of companionship or a confidant. Here are four key factors to consider in coping with your secondary losses.

The unimaginable has happened; you are a widow or widower. Mourning your loss has been the focus of your life for the past year or two. Finally, as you begin to surface from your profound grief, with a deep breath and lot or a little trepidation you find yourself falling in love again. Is this new relationship fraught with landmines? You bet! Here are important stepping stones to help keep you afloat along the way, Do’s and Don’ts for widows/widowers beginning a new, loving relationship.

In the presence of loss and attachment, it is still possible to let go with grace. How this happens will be different for each person, for each individual heart loves in their own unique way, and yet there are components that are similar, involving a deeper understanding of the soul's journey.

Is fear and worry holding you back from reaching your goals and dreams? Discover a simple formula to overcome your fears and begin moving towards your dreams.

Your beliefs about death, your loved one, and the world around you explain what grief is like for you and only you right now. Everything you perceive about the present state of your grief and loss is filtered through what you believe to be true. Here are three limiting beliefs frequently embraced by the mourner—often hidden in silence—and causing unnecessary suffering, with an antidote for each.

Some useful advice on how to find communities, support groups and other bereavement resources on the web.

The search for meaning after a loved one dies can make a big difference in how you cope with your loss and reinvest in life. First, give yourself much time to express emotion and review the relationship. Eventually, make every effort to find meaning in your loss. Here are seven considerations that have provided meaning for others after the death of a loved one, and that may help you in your own search.

At this point, widowed for about 18 months, I met Hal the night I attended my last “bereavement support group” meeting. I was instantly attracted to his "energy". We seemed to have a lot in common, both professionally and emotionally. I gave him my business card with the knowing feeling that he would call, but I had no idea if it would be in a week or a year. I hold a life’s philosophy that things happen when they should. He called, six months later and a new life, and love, opened up for me.

There are a number of old beliefs that we have learned about grief from the authority figures in our lives that have a major impact on the length of time we grieve and the amount of unnecessary suffering we endure. But there are several things in addition to questionable beliefs that tend to prolong and exacerbate the grief process, that you can immediately change.

We all need each other or we could hardly bear the pain when mourning the death of a loved one. But most important of all, we need our own inner strength to deal with it all. Here is how you begin your most critical task. These nine approaches will help strengthen your inner life as you move through the pain.

What can we learn from the death of a baby?

I have run from only two storms in my whole life. Once the year before Katrina, my wife and me retuned the next morning from the first storm that turned away from New Orleans like most of the storms before it.. Katrina wasn’t so merciful. In fact it seems we may never return now, but by no choice of our own.

Dealing with loss or trauma can be especially difficult for those who suffer from bipolar disorder. Not only are they trying to cope with the traumatic experience, but they are also trying to remain stable and avoid a depressive or manic episode as a result of the stress it caused. Some with bipolar disorder may need to seek extra support to cope with the grief or anxiety that the traumatic event causes.

The loss of a loved one is made especially difficult to confront because we live in a death denying culture. Here are 10 things you can do as part of your journey through grief that have worked for others through the years and they can work for you.

Here are five ways you can assure yourself that your grief work will not be prolonged and you can eventually accept the death of your loved one on an emotional level. Much of this is internal work and will call on you to strengthen your inner life.

The loss of a spouse is one of the most difficult loses we experience as our day-to-day life is forever gone. The grieving process following this loss may be divided into five time sequences. One to four months would be called SHOCK, five to eight months of mourning is DENIAL, nine to twelve months is ANGER, thirteen to seventeen months is DEPRESSION, eighteen to twenty four months is INTEGRATION, ADJUSTMENT and TRANSITION. It is common to move back and forth among these sequences as we heal.