Grief Needs

Taking Care of Yourself:

• Rest every day.

• Set aside alone time to reflect.

• Share your loss with someone who cares.

• Exercise, if possible, to release some energy.

• Eat well to nourish your stressed body.

• Spend time with those you love.

• Live simply to reduce financial burdens.

• Begin a simple daily routine that may help motivate you in the morning.

• Allow others to comfort you.

• Connect with others who have also felt great pain in the past and survived. We all need

  hope.

• Set short-term goals even though you don’t seem to care much about life. As time goes

  on, you will be able to do more and more and may even occasionally enjoy some

  activities.

• Stay open to all experiences, and you will be led to a valuable path in life.

• Appreciate the little things in life by being present to each and every moment. All we

  have is the “NOW”.

• Understand that the process of grief takes a very long time and is filled with backslides--

  one step forward, two steps back. This is normal.

• Accept that however you feel is okay. No one has the right to tell you how to grieve or

  how long to grieve.

• Trust that human beings are self-regulating systems. Even with much effort, we begin

  to very slowly heal from grief, so be gentle with yourself.

• Down the road, look for the deeper meaning of your sorrow – what you have learned.

  Often you will find that your life has been totally transformed because of being touched by deep pain. You will never forget your pain, and it is through the “remembering” of the pain that compassion extends from one person to another. You will begin to heal when you meet someone who is grieving a new loss, and you reach out to help because you have the capacity and the willingness to care about this person. In opening yourself up to more than your own pain, the kindness and love will somehow be reciprocated.

• Remember, that although it seems that there is no justice in the world, there is definitely compensation. It takes a very long time to realize this, but one day; this awareness will come to you. TRUST...TRUST...TRUST.

• Pain is very much a part of life as is healing. You did not ask for the pain, but it came...just as the healing will come to you. Please have patience and be kind to yourself.

• PEACE.