Grief is a terrible, painful place. You can’t grind away on grief in a solid way and say, ‘I’m going to work on this until it’s over’ because it will be with you for the rest of your life, whatever you do. So, you deal with it and move on.” ― Pam Ferris I hope you found some quotes in this selection that resonated with you and helped ease the loss you are experiencing. And there’s very little that can actually offer any comfort from the pain. We seek ways to understand and explain what has happened but it is often in vain. If you’re experiencing complicated grief and the pain from your loss remains unresolved, it’s important to reach out for support and take the steps that will enable you to heal. Seeking support for grief and loss

Coping with Grief and Loss - HelpGuide.org Coping with Grief and Loss - HelpGuide.org

Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving…the pain of the leaving can tear us apart. Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.” — Henri NouwenWhile grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it. – Samuel Johnson Sadness. Profound sadness is probably the most universally experienced symptom of grief. You may have feelings of emptiness, despair, yearning, or deep loneliness. You may also cry a lot or feel emotionally unstable. The pain of grief is just as much part of life as the joy of love: it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment. To ignore this fact, or to pretend that it is not so, is to put on emotional blinkers which leave us unprepared for the losses that will inevitably occur in our own lives and unprepared to help others cope with losses in theirs.” Grief can wash over you like a tsunami, making it impossible to sort through your emotions — much less articulate them in any coherent way.

The Love We Only Find In Loss - Whats your Grief The Love We Only Find In Loss - Whats your Grief

The pain of grief can often cause you to want to withdraw from others and retreat into your shell. But having the face-to-face support of other people is vital to healing from loss. Even if you're not comfortable talking about your feelings under normal circumstances, it's important to express them when you're grieving. Grief can take care if itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.” ― Mark Twain When you lose someone you love, it’s so difficult to put into words the depth of your sorrow and the feelings of profound loss you’re experiencing.

4. Grief is a conversation of hearts.

What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us. – Helen Keller When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time — the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes — when there’s a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she’s gone, forever — there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.” –John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

Love, Grief and Gratitude: A Reflection of Loss in the First Year Love, Grief and Gratitude: A Reflection of Loss in the First Year

Remember, the intensity of grief does not last forever. The love you have for your loved one will. Holding onto grief is not holding on to love - survivors' guilt is a thing! Eventually, you will learn to live around the grief, influenced by the legacy and love of your beloved. There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love. – Washington Irving The sentiment, in turn, is not dissimilar to the moving epitaph written in 1817 for legendary author Jane Austen by her brother James, in which he describes the grief of all who knew her: While loss affects people in different ways, many of us experience the following symptoms when we're grieving. Just remember that almost anything that you experience in the early stages of grief is normal—including feeling like you're going crazy, feeling like you're in a bad dream, or questioning your religious or spiritual beliefs. Emotional symptoms of griefI miss her all the time. I know in my head that she has gone. The only difference is that I am getting used to the pain. It’s like discovering a great hole in the ground. To begin with, you forget it’s there and keep falling in. After a while, it’s still there, but you learn to walk round it.”― Rachel Joyce Grief is the price you pay for love" -Colin Murray Parkes (later famously quoted by Queen Elizabeth II) Get this handwritten poetry print to keep on your walls or nightstand, or give it as a gift when you don't know what else to give. Call me by the old familiar name.