Grief Counseling

Grieving is a normal part of the healing process. Grief happens with any loss, not just the death of a loved one. Loss can result from an eviction, job loss, a breakup or divorce, or the loss of a dream or goal. Knowing the grieving stages can help you navigate the healing process and recognize when you might need some support. The Five Grieving Stages The grieving stages consist of five stages or phases that people may experience during loss. However, everyone experiences grief differently. One person may experience each stage in order as listed below. Another individual may only experience three of the five stages, or cycle back through the grieving stages. Unfortunately, some people can experience grief that interferes with their physical and emotional health, as well as their work and relationships. The following are the five stages of grief. Shock/Denial You have trouble believing that the loss has occurred. Maybe you don’t want to think that your spouse cheated, or that your loved one passed away. You may know that an event has happened, but you are unable to process it. You walk around in a daze, managing arrangements or doing the bare minimum. Anger You have an anger boiling beneath the surface. You may show your anger or voice it to others. Everything seems tainted through this lens. You want your spouse to know how angry you are with them for leaving. You feel angry at a loved one for passing away or angry at hospice or another person. You can’t seem to control your angry outbursts, and if you can, you bottle them up until they manifest as bitterness and rage. Bargaining The bargaining stage has you questioning everything, possibly blaming yourself for the actions of others, or wallowing in regret. You might think, [...]

Even though most people will experience grief at least once in their lives, many misunderstand it. Most tend to see grief as an emotional disturbance after someone dies, one that we must try to get through so that we can have stable lives once again. This couldn’t be further from the truth. When we understand it and allow it to affect us positively, parts of us grow and change for the better. Misunderstandings About Grief Our understanding of grief is shaped by many things, such as our family’s attitude toward death, our personal experience with loss, and cultural influences. Some people fear death because they have been warned from a tender age about the existence of hell and judgment in the afterlife. Their attitude might be affected by fear. Other people have a stoic attitude toward emotional displays of any kind, so they view grief as something that must be “dealt with” so that a person can move forward in their life. It helps to examine what we believe about it, whether we are facing it ourselves or supporting someone else through it. It is not an emotion Grief is not a single emotion we experience. Rather, it is a mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual response to loss. We might feel many emotions in grief, even conflicting ones. Sometimes we don’t feel any emotions, at least at first. It is a complex experience that affects each part of our own life and reaches out to affect those closest to us. It is not only about death We most commonly associate grief with the death of a loved one, but people may grieve for all manner of things. When we lose something that has deeply impacted and shaped us, we will grieve. People grieve over relationships, jobs, places they once [...]

Grieving can take many different forms, depending on the person experiencing it and the circumstances surrounding the loss of a loved one, parent, or friend. It has the potential to be debilitating, bringing your life to a grinding halt as you try to make sense of how you feel about the passing of a person who played such a vital role in your life. On the other hand, it may come as a relief and cause for celebration that the person who was dear to you will no longer have to deal with their disease or misery. Complicated grief is a complicated collection of feelings, and it has the potential to throw us off balance and advance the mourning process in ways that we did not anticipate. This might carry on for an infinite amount of time. There is no set time frame for the grieving process; it lasts for as long as we require to go through our emotions and readjust to life without the deceased person in our lives. It may take some time before we can come to grips with the fact that we may have regrets over things that we may have left unsaid, particularly if we had unresolved issues with that person. Rowlett Christian Counseling provides compassionate, faith-based support to help individuals process grief, work through regrets, and find peace and healing in God’s presence. Honoring those we have lost through grieving. The desire of the people I work with to memorialize their departed loved ones in a meaningful way is something that comes up quite frequently in our conversations. One way that people are often able to achieve closure after the loss of a loved one is by engaging in an activity that is both tangible and significant and that pays honor to [...]