1. It comes in waves
Grief is tidal. In time, it can recede and leave us with feelings of peace and advancement, only for it to wash back in with all its crushing hopelessness and sorrow. Back and forth it goes, but with each retreating drift of despair, we are left a little stronger, more resilient, more essential and better at our new life.
– Nick Cave
2. Grief feels like fear
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.
– C. S. Lewis
3. We are not alone
We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world–the company of those who have known suffering.
– Helen Keller
4. Grief is like an open window
Grief is a most peculiar thing; we’re so helpless in the face of it. It’s like a window that will simply open of its own accord. The room grows cold, and we can do nothing but shiver. But it opens a little less each time, and a little less…
– Arthur Golden
5. You learn to live with it
The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to.
– Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
6. We can’t help searching for their faces
Without you in my arms, I feel an emptiness in my soul. I find myself searching the crowds for your face – I know it’s an impossibility, but I cannot help myself.
– Nicholas Sparks
7. It’s vast
There is a vastness to grief that overwhelms our minuscule selves. We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms subsumed within grief’s awesome presence. It occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe.
– Nick Cave
8. Sometime we need reassurance that there’s hope
Deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope.
– Elizabeth Gilbert
9. Grief is not a sign of weakness
Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.
– Earl Grollman
10. Winnie the Pooh is so wise
How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.
– Winnie the Pooh
